Hospice aides honored

CRESTON — Two local hospice aides were honored with Leadership Awards at this year’s Iowa Caregiver’s Conference, which was held April 10 at Prairie Meadows Conference Center in Altoona. Donna Cheers and Sally Chapman, both hospice aides at HCI Hospice Care Services’ Greater Regional Hospice Home, have been active with the Iowa Caregiver’s Association for the past two years.

Cheers has worked as an aide for nearly 40 years, the last three of which have been with HCI Hospice Care Services.

“I can’t express how honored I am to receive this award,” Cheers said. “I feel so blessed to have found a job that I love to do and work with an awesome team. It is an honor to be able to help families and their loved ones during such personal and vulnerable time in their lives. It’s very rewarding to go home at the end of our shifts and think we have helped them through another stage of their journey.”

Cheers encourages others to take advantage of the services hospice has to offer, as she says many families share they wished they’d called sooner. She and her husband have lived in Afton for 45 years. When not working, she enjoys spending time with their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and friends.

Chapman has been an aide for about 23 years. She was inspired to work in hospice care after her mother received the services.

“It is such an honor to receive this award,” Chapman said. “I love what I do, and I feel it is a gift from God.”

Chapman enjoys “being there” for the families she serves and offering them a compassionate shoulder to lean on or a listening ear. She has called Murray home for the past 14 years and enjoys selling Partylite candles, camping and watching movies in her spare time.