Hillsdale woman celebrates 100th birthday [hospice pioneer, 1970's]

Hillsdale woman celebrates 100th birthday [hospice pioneer, 1970's] 
HudsonValley360, Hudson, NY; by Tiffany Greenwaldt-Simon; 5/2/25 
... Dr. Irma Waldo was born on May 1, 2025, and recently celebrated joining the centenarian club with an openhouse celebration at the Copake Community Center Friday afternoon. ... [Dr. Waldo] opened her own pediatric practice in Hillsdale in 1952 - often making house calls and getting to know the families she was caring for. ... For Waldo, the most rewarding part of her medical career was the hospice service she helped create, Roe Jan Hospice. She received a call in the 1970s from a doctor in New York City who had a 9-year-old patient with a brain tumor. ... The hospice was expanded to cover the all of Columbia County over the course of 18 years, eventually becoming Columbia County Hospice, and then being absorbed into Hudson Valley Hospice. "That was the best thing, most important part of my practice, forming that hospice," Waldo said. ... Waldo now spends her time volunteering with the Columbia County Office of the Aging, and assists the organization with their lunches. She also wrote and self-published a book in 2023, "The Doctor Wore High Heels," to share the stories of her life.
Editor's note: Click here for Hudson Valley Hospice's history.