01
Medication administration and daily health checks
Morning and noon doses, vitals, blood sugar and weight, with a note home every day.
Included
Adult day health · Newton, Kansas
Turn toward the sun. Spend the day with friends.
Sunflower is a licensed adult day health center on North Main, with two nurses on the floor, therapy, a zwieback-and-borscht kitchen and vans that cover Harvey County from seven to six.
- 2001opened on North Main
- 64members on a busy day
- 2nurses on the floor
Why Sunflower
Started by a church quilting circle and a nurse who said yes.
In 2000 the women's quilting circle at a Mennonite church in town noticed the same thing in many of their homes: a parent who was fine at night with family, but lonely and unsafe alone during the day. They raised the money for a building and asked Ruth Unruh, a home health nurse, to run it.
Twenty-five years later Sunflower fills a former hardware store on North Main. Members are farmers and teachers, railroad men and quilters, many of them grandchildren of the families who brought Turkey Red wheat to Kansas. They come for the company, the cooking and the quilting frames, and their families send them because two nurses are on the floor all day.
— Ruth Unruh, RN, founding director
What sets us apart
Where we shine
02
Mennonite kitchen days
Zwieback, verenika, borscht and peppernuts, cooked with members.
Weekly
03
Quilting frames and the comforter project
Members tie comforters for the relief sale every April.
Weekly- 2001opened on North Main
- 64members on a busy day
- 2nurses on the floor
- 9small towns the vans cover
Photo tour
Sunflower days
We turn toward the people who come through our door the way a sunflower turns toward the light: every morning, without being asked.
Sample family reviews
From Sunflower families
Mother has tied comforters for the relief sale every spring since 1962. At Sunflower she still does. That matters more to her than anything.
Daniel caught Dad's fluid building up two days before his cardiology appointment. They moved it up, and he stayed out of the hospital.
My husband sings bass in the hymn sing. He can't always remember my name, but he remembers every note of 606.
The van comes out to our farm south of Walton. Vernon knows the road better than I do.
Saturday respite twice a month is the only reason I still sing in the choir.
Gloria had Mom walking the loop without her walker by summer.
Dad was a Santa Fe railroad man for thirty-eight years. He tells the preschoolers next door about the trains, and they listen.
Esther sorted out the waiver in three weeks. We had been stuck for six months.
The zwieback on Saturdays tastes like my grandmother's kitchen.
I work at the hospital until six. Sunflower stays open until six. That's the whole story.
Rooms & suites
Inside the old hardware store
Tin ceilings, wide aisles and rooms built for every part of the day.
01
The main floor
The old hardware store, with its pressed-tin ceiling and long aisles turned into tables, a stage and the coffee counter.
- Tin ceiling
- Coffee counter
- Stage
02
The quilting room
Three full-size frames and shelves of donated fabric, in the old paint department.
- Three frames
- Good light
03
The memory care neighborhood
A calmer, smaller room with its own entrance, kitchen table and staff.
- Own staff
- Dementia-friendly
04
The therapy room
Parallel bars, practice stairs and mats, Monday through Thursday.
- Parallel bars
- Practice stairs
05
The shower suite
A roll-in shower and a trained aide, so bath day is one less job at home.
- Roll-in shower
- Grab bars
Our team
The Sunflower staff
Ruth Unruh, RN
Founding director
Daniel Schrag, RN
Director of nursing
Gloria Martinez, PT
Therapy director
Esther Koehn, LMSW
Social worker
Ratings & recognition · sample
- Readers' Choice · Best Senior Program
- County Chamber · Nonprofit of the Year
- Area Agency on Aging · Community Partner
- Regional Medical Center · Preferred Day Program
- Veterans Coalition · Community Partner
- Relief Sale · Comforter Donor
- College Nursing Program · Clinical Partner
- Main Street Program · Building Reuse Award
Now hiring
Good people make Sunflower Day Center. We are hiring for every shift.
Visit
Find us on North Main
- 602 N Main Street
Newton, KS
Free parking along Main and in the lot behind the building. The covered drop-off and ramp are on the 6th Street side. - (316) 555-0145
- Text us
- welcome@sunflowerdaycenter.example
- SunflowerDayCenterNewton
Tour & office hours
- Program, Mon – Fri7a – 6p
- Saturday respite1st & 3rd, 9a – 3p
- Tours, Mon – Fri9a – 3p
- Families drop inAny time we are open
Lunch is at noon. There's always room.
Come for a tour, or bring your parent for a free day with lunch and the van. Call, text or book online.