78 Photo Essay: Kristy Mauldin, Comfort Care Hospice Administrator

Words by Justin Hunter | Image by Blakeney Clouse 

Kristy Mauldin still owns a miniature train set her mother once purchased from Woolworth’s five-and-dime store in downtown Jasper. Today, Kristy’s office is located in that same building. 

“This is my dream job for so many reasons,” says Kristy, who serves as the Administrator for Comfort Care Hospice in Jasper. 

Admittedly, one of those reasons is the physical building in which Comfort Care is located. Decades before the hospice company moved into 319 19st Street West, Woolworth’s served the citizens of Walker County. Now Kristy and her compassionate team buzz around the second floor of the historic structure, ready to offer premium care for those who come under their wing.  

“I told my boss, the COO, that the Jasper office needed to be in this building,” she says. “I just begged and begged her, once I knew the lease on the old office was coming up. I need to be here because of the personal memories and what the store meant to Walker County and Jasper. Getting into this building, I could not be happier.” 

But it’s not just about the building; Kristy takes her job—and those who come under her and her staff’s care—seriously. 

A Parrish High School graduate, Mauldin attended Walker College before transferring to the University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH) to obtain her bachelor’s degree in nursing.

Her journey into the medical field began while working as a transporter, wheeling patients from their beds to anywhere in Walker Baptist Hospital. “A light bulb went off around 1992, and I decided I wanted to be a nurse,” Mauldin says. “It was actually through a scholarship through Walker Baptist where I agreed to work for two years. It’s how I paid for a bachelor’s degree.”

Mauldin worked as an in-between nurse for both Walker Baptist and Brookwood Hospital in Birmingham from 1995-2007. She had young children at the time and wanted to do something new. Her interaction with hospice nurses over the years inspired her to get out of her comfort zone. 

In 2007, Mauldin began working as a nurse at Comfort Care Home Health before shifting over to hospice in 2013. She says she made the switch to hospice out of holy jealousy and the desire to do more for patients.

“It’s a huge honor and a huge responsibility because you are one of the last people to be with someone before they pass,” Mauldin says. “I genuinely love my staff because they care about each patient.” 78