Dosia attended Whittier Elementary School in Toledo, Ohio, where she wrote her first religious composition for a Christmas program.
For a year, she was barely able to speak or swallow, so she lived at the Toledo Society for Crippled Children Home.
She gained notoriety due to her students' success in graduating with degrees that provided them with job opportunities.
In 1968, Carlson published The Unbroken Vigil: Reflections on Intensive Care, describing her moments of despair and pain.
In 1972, she began developing gerontology programs and facilities and writing hymns and sermons addressing the field.
[1] In 1974, Carlson moved to Phoenix, to run services at the Beatitudes campus and work as an Associate Minister.
[2] In 1981, she founded the Beatitudes Center for Developing Older Adult Resources (Center DOAR, renamed "Duet: Partner In Health & Aging" in 2005), a non-profit providing the homebound elderly with free in-home services to help them stay in their homes longer.