Salute to Iowa Nurses: Oncology nurse found her calling in childhood Laura Rowley Dotson was nine years old. The patient was her mother. “I wasn’t scared,” she said. “It was helping her and she trusted me. That was the moment I knew I wanted to be a cancer nurse. I’m passionate about what I do because of her.” Dotson was chosen as one of the 100 Great Iowa Nurses of 2021, an award that honors professionals who have made a meaningful, lasting contribution to their patients, colleagues and profession, and mentored others. Dotson, 37, grew up on a cattle farm near Ottumwa. Her father...