July 25, 2025

All in the Family: Mount Ayr Volunteer Coordinator Angela Dodge

MOUNT AYR, IOWA  --  For Angela Dodge, EveryStep is a family affair.   

She first learned about EveryStep at the end of her father’s life.  “My father was on hospice while I was still teaching school.  I really didn’t know anything about it then, but it was such a good program for him,” she says, “He wasn’t on it very long before he passed away, but I just felt like they really did such a good job with him. 

“It was so positive.  There was no negative. It was positive with everything that they tried to do,” she remembers. 

Years later, Angela reconnected with EveryStep through her daughter.  “When the time came and my daughter became a hospice nurse, I saw more what they do,” she says, “She would call me and say I’m worried about this patient, and I can’t share their name, but will you pray for them and or just keep me in your thoughts”, she says.   

After Angela retired from a 39-year career as an elementary school teacher, a position opened for volunteer coordinator in the Mount Ayr office.  Angela’s daughter pushed her to take the job, telling her that it was something she thought her mom would really love.  Her daughter was right - and after eight years with EveryStep, Angela still cherishes her second career. 

“I do love my job.  I feel like we’re helping people,” Angela says, “We’re in the right frame of mind to think about life and not death … all of these people who are getting close to death, but we try to give them the best quality of life that we can.” 

For Angela, providing the best care to patients begins with changing people’s minds about what hospice means. 

“When someone first hears the word hospice, or their family member has been approved for hospice, they just cringe.  It’s like ‘oh, no, they’re on hospice, they’re going to die soon’”, she says, “We try to tell them that that is not what it means.  It means that you qualify for this wonderful program, but you’re going to get all this help. 

“I think we’re changing the perception of what hospice really means.” 

But hospice care isn’t just about the patient’s care.  As a volunteer coordinator, Angela works to take care of everyone involved. 

“We help people.  It’s a really good feeling to know that you’ve done something that someone is going to value and that their families are going to value because we try to help the families, too,” she says, “As we all know the caregivers often time get down, they get tired, they can’t go on.  A lot of the time the volunteers can go in and sit and give the caregivers a break which is something that they need a lot.” 

Angela has around 50 volunteers actively working with her in the Mount Ayr area at any given time, including her own unit of military volunteers.  That includes younger veterans who’ve served in the Middle East, as well as veterans of the Vietnam and Korea Wars – and even a 103-year-old WWII veteran – Jake Dailey. 

It is with this group that Angela organizes veteran pinning ceremonies with patients who’ve served in the military.  The ceremonies include prayer and praise for those who served their nation.  For some, it offers a chance to heal old wounds and rekindle the brotherhood of military service. 

“They really enjoy it, they get emotional.  Some of the veterans have told us things that they say they’ve never told anybody else,” she says, “Some of the veteran volunteers then go back and visit the patients on a regular basis and they can open up to them because its veteran to veteran.” 

Angela says that most rewarding part of her job - hearing from volunteers who say that they are getting back just as much from patients as they are giving with their time. 

“I think that is the best thing,” she says, “They call me and say ‘this was the neatest visit I’ve been on, it was really neat.  They really enjoyed me coming and it really helped them, and they want me to come back.  Will you call them and see if I can go back again? 

“We’re helping people and that just makes me feel good.”