Our Vision & History

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Iowa City Hospice Continues to Serve its Community

Iowa City Hospice is your community-based, not-for-profit hospice organization. Our mission is to provide compassionate care for anyone in our community affected by serious advanced illness and end of life conditions. Our vision is that Iowa City Hospice is the recognized expert in innovative care for people with those serious advanced illnesses and end of life conditions.

Iowa City Hospice operates on four core values, including Integrity, Respect, Planning, and Quality. We always conduct ourselves with the utmost integrity. We honor and respect patients’ wishes and goals. We plan the care and execute the care plan. We continually improve our quality.

Iowa City Hospice provides care to individuals within our seven-county service area. That area includes Johnson, Iowa, Linn, Cedar, Muscatine, Louisa, and Washington counties. Our staff provides care wherever the patient is; a house, a nursing home, an assisted living, or a hospital.

Our commitment to quality, high level of experience, and innovative care is reflected in all that we do.

History

The idea for Iowa City Hospice took root in 1979. Founders Martha Lubaroff and Mary Child began to discuss whether Johnson County would support an organization dedicated to end of life care. Motivated by their experiences with seriously ill family members, they pushed forward.

The women recruited a task force of community members and charged them with finding a way to provide practical, compassionate support to enhance quality of life for terminally ill people.

In 1982, widespread community support allowed the first board of directors to appoint a medical director. That fall, the first class of volunteers was trained. These volunteers, along with their newly hired patient care coordinator, provided care to their first patient in March 1983.

For more information…

See our annual reports for the last several years

Learn about our American Heart Association certification for Palliative/Hospice Heart failure