Clockwise: Robey Orewiler, Andrea Cotton, Delaney Orewiler, Wilda Orewiler, Madison Orewiler.

Family, friends, and business leaders filled the Stuart Medical Clinic Tuesday to celebrate the owner’s retirement.

Wilda Orewiler is retiring after decades of experience in the medical field, from nurse’s aid to a Physician’s Assistant. Originally from Ohio, Orewiler’s career didn’t begin in the medical field, but it was her experiences as a patient that led her to pursue this work, that’s taken her close the Texas-Mexico border and back. She mentions a conversation she recently had with her supervising physician, “We didn’t get into the health field for the money as a lot of people do. We got in it to help people get well.”

Orewiler is turning 80 years old next May, and as her P.A. license was set to expire on December 31st, she felt now is the right time to retire. Orewiler gives this advice to P.A.’s and other newcomers working in rural health care, “Keep your chin up and if you have questions, talk to the specialists. I am thankful for the doctors at Iowa Heart. I pick that especially because anytime that I have a question and I don’t know what quite to do or which direction to go, all I have to do is go in and call their telephone number and talk to one of the doctors and they are always so nice to come and talk to me.”

Orewiler adds she’s been speechless at the number of visitors she had at her open house and throughout the last couple weeks on the job. The future of the Stuart Medical Clinic is uncertain, but the Orewiler family is open to selling it to a new provider. For her retirement, Orewiler says she looks forward to spending more time with her cat Christmas.