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Home health · Lawrence, Kansas

Back to Saturday market on your own two feet.

Nurses and therapists who come to your home in Lawrence, Eudora, Baldwin City and Perry after a surgery, a stroke or a hospital stay, and stay until you're steady. Medicare-certified since 2008.

Request careCall (785) 555-0124
  • 2008serving Douglas County
  • 3counties, from Perry to Ottawa
  • 5,800home visits last year
An older man and his daughter carrying trays of seedlings at the farmers' market truck

How we think about it

Recovery is a goal you set. We just help you get there.

At the first visit, before anybody checks a blood pressure, we ask one question: what do you want to be doing again? Walking the dog along the Kaw. Getting down the basement stairs to the laundry. Driving to the market on Saturday morning. Then every visit, every exercise and every bit of teaching points at that.

Ruth Ann Kessler opened Wakarusa in 2008 after twenty years in hospital rehab. She wanted an agency that measured success the way patients do. We still track it, one goal at a time, and we celebrate when you don't need us anymore.

— Ruth Ann Kessler, RN, founder and administrator

An older man kneeling to tend the vegetable rows in his backyard garden
  • 2008serving Douglas County
  • 3counties, from Perry to Ottawa
  • 5,800home visits last year
  • 36 hrsaverage time from referral to first visit

What sets us apart

Where we shine

A nurse checking a woman's blood pressure at her kitchen table
01

Skilled nursing visits

Assessments, symptom checks and teaching at the kitchen table.

Medicare
A therapist guiding an older man through shoulder stretches in his living room
02

Physical therapy

Strength, balance and walking aimed at the goal you named.

Medicare
A caregiver beside an older woman practicing the stairs
03

Joint-replacement recovery

Home therapy that starts the day after you leave the hospital.

Most plans

Our team

The people you'll see at your door

Ruth Ann Kessler, RN, Founder & Administrator

Ruth Ann Kessler, RN

Founder & Administrator

Twenty years in hospital rehab before she opened Wakarusa. Still reads every patient's goal sheet.

  • Rehab nursing
  • Quality
Keisha Monroe, RN, BSN, Director of Nursing

Keisha Monroe, RN, BSN

Director of Nursing

Lawrence native and former cardiac nurse who built our heart-failure program.

  • Cardiac
  • Teaching
Brian Hollister, PT, DPT, Therapy Director

Brian Hollister, PT, DPT

Therapy Director

Has measured more basement staircases than he can count. Rides his bike to the office from Old West Lawrence.

  • Joint replacement
  • Balance
Amina Yusuf, RN, CWOCN, Wound Care Nurse

Amina Yusuf, RN, CWOCN

Wound Care Nurse

Certified in wound, ostomy and continence care. The person other nurses call with their hardest wounds.

  • Wound care
  • Ostomy
Lauren Pacheco, Intake Coordinator

Lauren Pacheco

Intake Coordinator

Answers the main line, chases down orders and has your first visit on the calendar before you hang up.

  • Referrals
  • Insurance

Sample family reviews

Goals people reached

My goal was to walk to the end of the block with my granddaughter. Week five, we did it, and the therapist made me send her a picture.
Bev K.Physical therapy patient, 2025
After his stroke, Dad wanted to make his own coffee again. The OT rearranged the whole kitchen around that one goal.
Sam O.Son of a patient, Eudora
The wound nurse got a heel ulcer to close that two clinics had given up on. Eleven weeks, but it closed.
Ellen D.Wife of a patient, Lawrence
I didn't want strangers in my house. By the second week I was baking cookies for my nurse.
Norma P.Heart failure patient, Baldwin City
They called my cardiologist the same afternoon my weight jumped. One medicine change and I stayed home.
Frank W.Patient, Perry
Lauren had the first visit scheduled while we were still waiting for the discharge papers.
Tasha R.Daughter of a patient

For families

For families

You're part of the plan. Here's how it works.

  1. 01

    The goal sheet

    Every patient's goal is written on a sheet on the refrigerator, with progress marked after each visit.

  2. 02

    Your nurse's number

    One case manager who knows your parent and returns calls the same day.

  3. 03

    After hours

    A nurse answers the main line all night and all weekend.

  4. 04

    Learning to help

    We teach the family member who's helping most, at a pace that works.

Join our team

Reasonable caseloads, paid drive time and a team that celebrates discharges.

Contact

Serving Douglas, Jefferson and Franklin counties

Office & on-call

  • Office, Mon – Fri8a – 5p
  • Intake by phone, Sat9a – 1p
  • On-call nurse for patients24 hours

After 5 p.m. and on weekends, the main line reaches the on-call nurse directly.

What do you want to do again?

Tell us, and we'll build the plan around it. Call, text or ask your hospital case manager to send the referral to Wakarusa.

Request careCall (785) 555-0124Text