'It's a perfect job:' Nurse practitioner celebrates 50 years

"I just love kids."

Ann Haddix, a Riley hematology & oncology nurse practitioner, just celebrated 50 years with IU Health in June. Her love for children and excitement over the next advancement in cancer therapies keeps her engaged in her career.

"I've never regretted it," Haddix said. "It's the best job in the world. I could have retired five years ago and here I am still working. I just can't give it up."

Haddix graduated from Depauw University in 1976 with a degree in microbiology, and she started working in a research lab at IU Health on June 7, 1976.

"I loved the science of it; I loved being on the cutting edge of research," Haddix said.

But she felt a pull toward patient care and decided to return to school to pursue nursing, while also working part time in the research lab. She got her first nursing job at Riley in 1987 and never left.

When asked why she decided to go into nursing, she said her inspiration came from her father.

"My dad was an MD," Haddix explained. "He died when I was young. When I started at Riley, my office was in the older part and I could just imagine, he's been here, he's gone up these steps, just like I have. I felt like I was carrying forth my father's legacy. Plus, my younger brother was a Riley kid."

Haddix explained how early in her nursing career, children receiving care at Riley were grouped by their ages and not by their diagnoses.

"So, we got patients with heart problems, with urology; we had orthopedic patients," Haddix recalled. "We had cancer patients and I sort of gravitated to the cancer patients because we saw them over and over for admissions. We developed relationships with those patients so I really kind of gravitated to that."

Eventually, Riley changed its patient care model from age-based to service-based units. When an opportunity presented itself for Haddix to care for patients receiving cancer treatments, she took it. She then went on to achieve her nurse practitioner license.

"I think her assessment skills are innate," Deb Wagner, fellow long-time Riley nurse practitioner said. "She does not need the computer or a flow or a Venn diagram to tell her that something's not right. She has a very keen sense when things are not right with the family or with the patient. I think she's one of those people that will number 1, show their kid a magic trick. Number 2, explain every question you ever had about anything on that lab report or what it means or what's coming next."

For many patients, planning for life after cancer is what comes next. Haddix plays a pivotal role in the survivorship clinic at Riley.

"I see patients that are on treatment; I understand that aspect of it," Haddix explained. "How difficult it is and some of our treatments are pretty brutal. I also do the long-term follow ups so I see patients five, 10, 20 years after they're out of treatment and for the very most part they're thriving, they're living, they're graduating from college. So I get to see the end result of what we've done when they were children. It's such a good balance."

Haddix said being a part of patients' lives in such a significant way that they are trusting her to walk with them through their cancer journeys is an honor.

"You are really let into their inner orbit, get to know their family, their stuffies, their favorite blanket, and it's a real privilege to be a part of other people's lives," Haddix said. "It's wonderful."

As Haddix prepares for retirement next summer, she said the people she works alongside have made a monumental impact on her.

"I do think it takes a special person to work with kids with cancer, and I will say without exception, the people I work with are absolutely wonderful," Haddix shared. "I would put my child's life in any of my co-workers' hands."