Search for Next Executive Director Begins
COUNCIL BLUFFS - Wings of Hope Cancer Support Center has begun the search for its next executive director.
After more than two decades in the role, Carolyn Ettinger is retiring as executive director at the end of December 2024. In January 2025, she will begin working part-time in programming and will continue to provide companion counseling, Healing Touch and other social-emotional support services that Wings offers. She will join Ann Jones as one of the organization’s two part-time program staff.
Patti Higginbotham, president of the Wings of Hope Cancer Support Center Board of Directors, said the move will allow the new executive director to focus on building organizational capacity and public awareness of available services, which are offered at no charge for people with cancer, their care partners, family, friends and survivors. “Our slow, strategic growth over the years has been a direct response to the need for our services, and this move is the logical next step,” Higginbotham said.
Throughout her tenure as executive director, Ettinger - a licensed mental health practitioner - has been responsible for providing the organization’s programming. “Having the equivalent of one full-time program staff will double our ability to meet the needs of those on the cancer journey, not only in the metro but throughout southwest Iowa,” Ettinger said.