OKMULGEE, Okla. – Ioma Jones is retiring from Okmulgee Memorial Hospital on Friday, after 42 years of dedicated service as a nursing assistant and respiratory therapist. The hospital will honor Jones with a retirement party.

“Ioma has been an important figure at our hospital, and we’re truly going to miss her,” says Rex Jones, OMH CEO.

Mrs. Jones began working at the hospital on Dec. 11, 1967, two months after the brand-new hospital opened, as a nursing assistant.

“I started on the 3 to 11 p.m. shift and immediately loved it. The hospital was always full of patients then, and I worked on the Medical, Surgical Unit and third floor,” Jones says. “In those days, LPNs and nursing assistants had many more responsibilities than they do today. We would work in twos and each patient was turned every two hours.

Jones worked as a nursing assistant for three years before she decided to go back to school and become a respiratory therapist.

“I loved emergency work and became extremely interested in respiratory therapy, so I went back to school to become a therapist. After finishing college, I received my respiratory therapist certification and started working in the respiratory therapy department of the hospital, and I’ve been there ever since,” says Jones.

Jones received her Associates degree in Respiratory Therapy from Tulsa Junior College, which is now Tulsa Community College.

Jones says she’s excited about retiring but that it was a very hard decision to make.

“I’m really going to miss working here, and it was very hard for me to finally decide to retire because I loved working for the hospital. I love being a respiratory therapist and caring for my patients. But, I realized it’s time for me to move on and now I’ll get to relax and enjoy retirement with my husband,” says Jones.