Jo-Lin nurse retires after more than 30 years with center

After 54 years of nursing, with 34 and a half of them at the Jo-Lin Health Center in Ironton, Joyce Lewis has decided to hang it up.

On Wednesday, Lewis and her co-workers gathered in the Jo-Lin annex to celebrate her retirement.

“It’s been wonderful,” Lewis said about her time at Jo-Lin. “I love nursing and I’m very blessed to have worked with very special people. The residents will always be in my heart.”

While at Jo-Lin, Lewis said she spent about 12 years working with residents and the remaining as the staff development director and in-service coordinator, running the nurse’s aide training program.

“When I come to work each day, these girls I work with make it so special,” she said. “When I leave here, I’ll have many friends.”

While Lewis said she will miss nursing, she’s looking forward to golfing, traveling and sending more time with her children, grandchildren and great-granddaughter during her retirement.

“I’ve been married for 54 years. I think it’s time to give up nursing and spend more time with him and the family,” she said. “I enjoy life all the time and I’m going to continue enjoying life and staying active.”

Jolinda Heaberlin, owner and administrator of Jo-Lin Health Center, said Lewis will be dearly missed.

“We opened in 1974 and she came the year after that, so I’ve worked with Joyce for almost the entire time,” she said. “She’s been a wonderful, loyal employee and a great friend.”