in this issue… John Musgrave looks back on the Vietnam War and the men who served with him
The lifetime wellness approach at Ageless Yoga
Meet the Lawrence Public Library’s powerhouse fundraisers, the senior Friends & Foundation book donation volunteers
STORIES OF WELLNESS, MEMORY, AND COMMUNITY
Seniors (age 62+) save 10% off adult tickets for Lied Series shows in
EDITOR
Nathan Pettengill
ART DIRECTOR
Alex Tatro
ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE
Joanne Morgan jmorgan@sunflowerpub.com 785.832.7264
COPY EDITOR
Leslie Clugston Andres
WRITERS
Melinda Briscoe
Katherine Dinsdale
Marsha Henry Goff
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Jason Dailey
Brian Goodman
Welcome to the 2024 edition of Lawrence Senior + Health, a combination of our two annual publications dedicated to exploring stories and resources for a healthful life in Lawrence, Kansas.
This year, we spend time with a yoga instructor, a poet, and numerous volunteers—each of them dedicated to helping others and improving the wellbeing of their community.
We hope you find some time this year to enjoy their stories while you continue to create your own.
Nathan Pettengill, editor07
DIRECTOR
Bob Cucciniello
PUBLISHER
Bill Uhler
Ageless Yoga
Popular course for retirees focuses on individual wellness, both inside and beyond the studio
10 A Book Club of a Different Sort
Some 200 mostly senior volunteers earn Lawrence Public Library tens of thousands of dollars each year by receiving, sorting, and selling donated books
14
Never Leaving Them Behind
A Baldwin City poet advocates for the honor and well-being of his fellow Vietnam veterans
17 Resource Guide
Essential numbers and contact information for senior living in Douglas County
Ageless Yoga students participate in class at the Yoga Center of Lawrence. Photograph by Brian Goodman.
Lawrence Senior + Health is a special annual publication of Lawrence Magazine, part of Sunflower Publishing, a division of Ogden Publications.
Sunflower Publishing 1035 N. Third Street, Suite 101-B | Lawrence, KS 66044 (888) 497-8668 or (785) 832-7264 | sunflowerpub.com
Popular course for retirees focuses on individual wellness, both inside and beyond the studio
Church says that while she teaches in groups and her students learn yoga together, each student is encouraged to focus on their individual journey of health and well being.
STORY BY Melinda Briscoe PHOTOGRAPHY BY Brian Goodman
Diane Church guides a morning class in downtown Lawrence called Ageless Yoga that is popular with senior students. “You don’t have to be of a certain age to join us,” she clarifies. “It’s just that our class is held during a slot of time most convenient to retirees. A lot of people are at work during that time.”
Held at the Yoga Center of Lawrence in the 900 block of Massachusetts Street on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., the class goes at a slightly slower pace than other yoga sessions. It is grounded in the Iyengar approach, a school of yoga that focuses on learning yoga poses correctly to get the maximum therapeutic benefit and avoid injury. Iyengar often uses props (such as belts, blocks, and blankets) so people who may have joint or back problems, sciatica, or other limitations can still perform the postures correctly. Proper posture minimizes the risk of strain on the body while still providing the benefits of the exercises.
Church is on her way to becoming a certified Iyengar teacher. To accomplish this, she must work with a mentor for a minimum of three years. She says she feels privileged to help her students improve their lives, working in groups but focusing on each student.
“Yoga is a center-focus practice. The journey is solo,” she explains. “I remind my students to focus on themselves and concentrate on what’s happening on their mat only.”
Church’s students are a mix of beginners and those who have practiced yoga for years. Perhaps because many of them are regulars, there is a strong sense of community in the class, and the students briefly socialize before and after the sessions. In the 90 minutes of yoga, Church assists students in learning how fast to go, how to pace themselves, and how to develop confidence in what they’re doing.
These are feelings of wellness and accomplishment that Church hopes will accompany her student beyond the studio.
“The ultimate goal,” she explains, “is to walk out of my class feeling better than when you walked in.”
920 Massachusetts Street, Suite 4 (second floor)
Ageless Yoga
Classes cost $20 per session, with discounts for the purchase of a multi-class pass. Sign-up information is available online at yogacenteroflawrence.org.
Diane Church, center, leads an Ageless Yoga class at the Yoga Center of Lawrence.
You don’t have to be of a certain age to join us.
It’s just that our class is held during a slot of time most convenient to retirees. A lot of people are at work during that time.
The Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department hosts two yoga programs to provide a lowintensity introduction. Of course, the suitability of any yoga class for any individual will depend on their general physical condition and mobility regardless of age. You can check with your doctor and consult with an instructor before starting any course.
Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department courses vary by season, but the department lists the latest classes for lifelong fitness at lawrenceks.org/lprd/ lifelongrecreation/fitness. The public classes often fill up quickly, so early registration is advised. Costs can vary by course but are currently $45–$53 for a 7-week session (two classes per week).
Chair Yopi Plus: The parks and recreation department lists this as a “gentle yet challenging” class that teaches stretching and pose techniques with adjustments for mobility issues.
Restorative Yoga: This class focuses on easing mental and physical tension through held poses and breathing exercises.
Silver Pilates: Pilates is an exercise class that focuses on core strength; it is somewhat like yoga in that it teaches poses and postures, but it’s not based in the meditative and philosophical school of thought that developed yoga. This senior class focuses on flowing motion, breathing, flexibility and other core Pilates concepts.
Deep in the bookish belly of the Lawrence Public Library, there thrives a parallel universe teeming with movers and shakers, bibliophiles and wonks of most every genre of the printed word. Volunteers, all; this group contends that physical copies of books still matter. They convert donated publications to cash, and that cash buys things the library—and, in turn, the community—needs.
This corps of library volunteers numbers about 200 and includes former librarians, ministers, engineers, veterinarians, doctors and, says one volunteer, “people who still have jobs.”
Their volunteer job consists of showing up at the southwest basement level of the library to receive book donations. Then they sort, they market, they recommend, and they ship books. In 2022, their efforts earned $98,000 at onsite Friends of the Library sales. Another $97,000 came in 2022 online sales of used books on Amazon, eBay, and other platforms.
Those proceeds are converted to specific projects, such as the purchase of Dottie, a UPS-style bookmobile step van transformed in partnership with the KU School of Architecture and paid for entirely by sales of donated books. In addition to purchasing this mobile library in 2021, income from sales of donated books keeps the library functioning. Sales support the summer reading program, author talks, Read Across Lawrence programs, and the Kanopy moviestreaming service. It even buys fish food for the children’s section aquarium, says Angela Hyde, staff Friends & Foundation program coordinator.
Stan Ring, a long-time volunteer and board member in charge of internet sales, says the soft benefits of having the group of volunteers, the goodness and passion they bring with their efforts to help the library, are as important as the income earned. “This group comes together to do work that they are passionate about; every one of us loves books,” Ring
says. “The volunteering satisfies a basic human need to do meaningful work. It’s a fun place to volunteer. I enjoy it. I’ve never been here that we haven’t had fun.”
Warren Muller, a retired Presbyterian minister who volunteers multiple days weekly at the library, is a jack-of-alltrades among the volunteers, says Hyde, with a talent for rehoming Bibles, helping keep morale high and spotting books too good for the recycle bin.
“What appeals to me more than anything is the chance to be there when the donated books come in,” Muller says. “We are able to touch all the books and read the titles of all the books.”
Muller’s eye for books worth keeping came in handy when he spotted a Coverdale Bible in the recycling bin. The 1828 reprint of the 1535 first modern English Bible sold on Amazon for $1,500.
The library volunteers’ workspace is accessed primarily through an elevator near the library’s main desk or through a back door. The basement includes one room with space for 100,000 books that serves as the staging area for donated books.
Books fresh from the library’s loading dock start with a bug check. Infested tomes are immediately trashed. Next, each book is checked for signs of wear, underlining or other markings. Volunteers find money and love letters tucked in pages. If they can, they will return valuable items to donors. Ration stamps and, once, a sculpture are among the surprises found in boxes labeled “books.” Clean books in good repair are then appraised. If a book’s value is deemed less than $10, the book goes on a shelf to wait for the next onsite Friends sale. If a book is valued greater than $10, it is marketed on Amazon or another online platform.
Lawrence’s status as a university town means donated
private collections offer a gold mine of obscure titles and subject matter. Because of the diversity of departments and specializations at KU, the variety of special collections the library receives is quite broad. A private library donated after a death or a major downsizing can easily fill 50–60 boxes of books.
Specific volunteers are assigned to each of the approximately 30 categories of books the library receives. Military histories, philosophy, ethics, biographies all have their designated shelves and volunteers. Sometimes donations are of interest only to a select number of people, so the volunteers determine the best way to reach those specific buyers.
“And some of the books we receive we have no idea where to file,” Ring says. “Exactly where do you shelve Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance? Philosophy? Transportation? Home improvement? Travel?”
Another challenge has been what to do with complete sets of older books. Many sets of books go for $5, but a set of Harvard’s 100 Best Books of All Time sold for $4,000. “The books were beautiful,” Ring says; “and they’d never been cracked open. It’s just hard to predict what will sell. Once a first edition book signed by Yeats was donated by a KU professor and brought us $2,000.”
Long-time volunteer and board member Annamarie Hill runs three onsite Friends & Foundation sales a year. Each event typically sells 20,000 items, including CDs, DVDs, audio tapes and games.
“It’s surprising what goes,” Hill says. “We often sell out of the old sets of books. Sometimes real estate people who are staging houses or decorators buy them just to fill shelves.”
“A lawyer gave us 40 boxes of law books,” Ring says. “Many of those sold to people wanting classy backgrounds for Zoom meetings. Encyclopedias sometimes sell on eBay, but often we’ll sell them as a set from the late ’60s or early ’70s for $5.
Estimating what the market price of a book might be falls on a crew of volunteers who scan databases to determine the values of books reserved for online sales, then lists those titles online, keeps track of sales, and ships the books.
“Our community isn’t large enough to have a demand for the quantity of niche titles we receive,” says Hyde, “but online, if we can find the right buyer, some of those titles can net hundreds of dollars.”
Books that cannot be sold online or at in-person sales are donated to local nonprofits, and teachers are invited to take free books. Volunteers or staff from Willow Domestic Violence Center and several area detention facilities come for the book giveaways. Ring regularly takes a load of fiction, romance and mysteries to Just Food. “Of course, we are trying to make money for the library,” he says, “but another goal is to support and spread literacy in the community.”
“We definitely exemplify the ideas of reduce, reuse and recycle,” Hill says. “We make sure a good book doesn’t go unread for lack of money.”
Donated CD collections are offered to the Kansas Audio-
Reader Network, a radio reading service for the blind. Hyde says the library was given an extensive collection of jazz, rhythm and blues, and classical recordings after the 2022 death of sound engineer Brian Kirby. Sales of those items earned Audio-Reader $14,000 at a Friends & Foundation sale.
“A line of shoppers snaked from the library into the parking garage,” Hyde says, “and turned into a spontaneous memorial time for Brian. Another valuable collection of recordings came from the estate of former Lawrence School Board member Austin Turney, who passed away in 2023. Audio-Reader earned $9,000 from that collection.”
Ring has volunteered at the library since 2013 and was on the library board that hired Angela Hyde. With a master’s degree in hydrogeology, Hyde says she recognized the job was out of her wheelhouse, but she loved the idea of working around books and with volunteers. Ring says Hyde’s enthusiasm won his vote. “She was upbeat and creative and had such a sparkle in her eyes.”
Hyde says that when she was hired six years ago, she wondered how long the job would last. “Books are going away,” she says she thought at the time. “But then we raised more money last year than any other year before.”
As a self-described avid reader, Hyde understands that many of her library volunteers want to take home a few books every once in a while, too.
“They don’t have to sneak them,” she says. “This is a place where you can run a tab and never end up with a hangover.”
Warren Muller, a retired Presbyterian minister, volunteers multiple days each week.Janie Marples has always been a library user and for a time served on the library board in Dodge City. Now living in Lawrence and retired from her medical career, she volunteers about eight hours a week at the library, posting books for sale online. Marples says the work is a good fit for her and that the process has taught her many new skills. “Sometimes quite a bit of research is required before we can figure out a listing price and platform for a book. Sometimes I think, ‘Who would read this?’ And then it sells.”
Since 2020, Bruce Nightingale has been happy with his honorific of “Old Guy with a Truck.” About twice a week, he shows up at the library and fills his 2002 Nissan with about 750 pounds of books destined for the recycling center at KU. There, the books’ bindings are removed and the pages are ground to pulp. Though the books are sent to recycling because they are too damaged to sell, Nightingale sometimes gives them one last read. “I do look at them as I load them,” Nightingale says, “and sometimes I’ll pick one out that I want to read.”
Tom Hoffman and Lee Blackledge are husband-andwife English literature majors and the dream team of the fiction section during Friends & Foundation onsite sales.
Angela Hyde marvels at Blackledge, who is especially good at remembering character names and plots and at making suggestions for shoppers.
“‘Oh,’” Hyde says Blackledge will say to a shopper, “‘you liked this book? Well, how about this one?’ The rest of us just watch sales skyrocket.”
Hoffman specializes in historical fiction and international fiction, as well as erotica and Kansas authors, but he says it’s Blackledge who is the reader. “Lee reads a great deal,” he says. “I just push books around.”
STORY BY Marsha Henry Goff PHOTOGRAPHY BY Jason Dailey
On November 7, 1967, 19-year-old Marine private John Musgrave had been in Vietnam for 11 months. He was serving with Delta 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, dubbed “The Walking Dead” because it had the highest casualty rate of any Marine battalion. And at this moment, he was somewhere between the walking and the dead.
He was set aside three times in triage as a hopeless case. Musgrave was lying on a stretcher at Delta Med while a chaplain prayed over him. At that moment, a surgeon— Musgrave recalls only that he had red hair—walked by, and Musgrave, with a hole in his chest large enough to put his fist through, smiled and nodded at him.
“Why isn’t someone helping this man?” the surgeon asked, then examined the machine-gun burst to Musgrave’s chest that had blown out the top part of his left lung and obliterated a couple of ribs.
The doctor ordered blood for transfusion, then apologized that he was going to hurt him because morphine, which depresses breathing, could not be given to a patient with a chest wound. The surgeon quickly made an incision and placed a chest tube to evacuate the blood that had collected in Musgrave’s pleural cavity.
After that, Musgrave was flown to a larger hospital in Vietnam, where he underwent five surgeries. Eventually, he was moved to Great Lakes Naval Hospital in the United States and then released to Virginia, where he worked on the weapons range in the morning and went to physical therapy at Quantico Naval Hospital every afternoon for a year.
The reception that American citizens gave Vietnam veterans returning from the war has, in the past years, became a matter of debate among historians and in popular culture. Musgrave, who makes Baldwin City his home, says he was never spat upon or subjected to screams of “baby-killer” as some incidents have been portrayed in movies and in recollections. He does recall that he was refused seating in restaurants, but his worst encounter occurred on a sidewalk where he was waiting for a light to change. A young woman asked if he had
been wounded in Vietnam. When he answered yes, she said, “You should have been killed over there!”
After being wounded, Musgrave wanted to continue in the military. He worked hard in therapy because he wanted to stay in the Marines where he had been promoted to corporal and hoped to return to Vietnam. He gradually accepted that he could no longer be a “grunt” but thought he could function as a helicopter side-gunner. However, it was not to be; the boy who began haunting the Marine recruitment station at 13 and joined at 17 was labeled permanently disabled and medically discharged.
College appeared his only option. Musgrave accessed the Vocational Rehabilitation program to enroll at Baldwin City’s Baker University. Other veterans advised him not to make it obvious he was a veteran. Nonetheless, Musgrave was proud of his service and unashamedly wore his jungle jacket, boots, and cut his hair “high and tight” as he arrived on campus.
Amid a raging debate about America’s role in Vietnam and with growing opposition to the war among students, Musgrave found himself at the center of a cultural upheaval.
Hearing a rumor that members of KU’s SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) were coming to Baker University to take down the American flag, Musgrave stationed himself at the flagpole and thought he’d face them alone until veterans from a fraternity showed up to stand with him.
The SDS did not come that day, or any day.
But the war waged on.
As the conflict escalated, Musgrave wrestled with his changing feelings about the war—and about the treatment of soldiers by its own government.
Looking back at his experience, he began to see things in a different light, even in how soldiers were equipped. For example, the M-16 rifle Secretary of Defense McNamara mandated they use had long bothered him. The M-14 worked; the M-16 was so unreliable that the enemy would take boots off American dead but leave the M-16 on the battlefield. “Hell of a note,” Musgrave says, “when you have a third-world army
carrying a better gun than we were. We felt betrayed.”
When Musgrave decided that political and military leaders were not making an effort to win the war but continually asked for more troops, he joined the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. It was a difficult decision; even his father opposed his choice.
Anonymous letters accused him of being a coward or Communist. His reason for joining was simple: He did not want more young American soldiers or innocent Vietnamese to die.
He quickly rose in the ranks and became one of VVAW’s most effective speakers. When he threw his medals away during a protest in Washington, DC, he said it was the hardest thing he ever did, but he wanted to show he had been in combat.
After about three years with the group, Musgrave left the VVAW because he thought it had become “politically radical and no longer reflected my values.” Further, some leaders of the organization had become “political opportunists.”
The decision to leave VVAW was almost as difficult as the decision had been to join it. He received much criticism from the leaders of VVAW when he left, including from one who called him “an anti-Communist.” Musgraves laughs, “As if that is a bad thing.” He thought he would just fade away and that his speaking days were over.
Then he found writing and poetry. Releasing books and speaking to groups, often about war, he became busier than ever and in demand as a speaker.
Musgrave’s writing addresses the forces of history and culture that shape us, but it particularly focuses on those pulled into the conflict, such as soldiers.
He worries about the Vietnam grunts being demonized by history and the easy dismissal afforded by time and cultural distance.
“I worry that we’ll see a day when they’ll destroy our memorials around the country, and I can easily see that when the last of us is buried and can no longer speak out, there will be a new generation of kids that will be moralists,” Musgrave says. “They’ll have no idea what the hell we were doing, and what it was like for us, and judge us. The one thing they don’t have the right to do is judge us if they haven’t been in combat.”
Looking back at his time of service, he sees a shockingly young group of racially diverse men thrown into impossible circumstances.
“The kids I served with were heroic on a scale that people here can’t imagine, and they deserve our respect,” Musgrave says. “We were 18 and 19. The oldest man in my platoon, a career Marine, was 22, and we called him Pop.”
If the 22-year-old was “Pop,” then who knows what status Musgrave has reached. Whatever it is, he uses his status and time to advocate for veterans and to honor both the living and the dead by ensuring their sacrifice is not forgotten.
He has not abandoned his hope that soldiers and others may live in peace. In every message he sends, he concludes, “With a prayer for peace.”
The Education of Corporal John Musgrave:Vietnam and Its Aftermath (Alfred A. Knopf, 2021) would not exist had John Musgrave not met Ken Burns and Lynn Novick during the making of The Vietnam War documentary. They were so impressed with Musgrave and his story that Burns called him one day from Alfred A. Knopf Publishing and told him he had made a deal to publish Musgrave’s memoir.
Musgrave demurred and told Burns that while he was a poet, writing a book was beyond his ability. Burns asked if he would feel comfortable telling his story to a writer, and Musgrave believed he could “talk a book” if not write one. He spent hundreds of hours talking to Bryan Doerries, a talented writer whom he already knew and trusted.
The book documents the life of a kid from Missouri who enlisted in the Marines at the tender age of 17 and became a man on the battlefields of Vietnam. His wound at Con Thien, which almost killed him, disabled him and dashed his hope of remaining in the Marine Corps.
He found a new purpose and has devoted his entire civilian life to helping veterans of all wars. The book is as compelling as Musgrave himself: not a pacifist but selective of the wars where young people are sent to die; forgiving of the man who shot him; and consumed with the need to help and honor the combat veterans who returned home and to remember and honor those who did not.
The book follows Musgrave’s previous works of poetry that include Notes to the Man Who Shot Me: Vietnam War Poems; On Snipers, Laughter and Death: Vietnam Poems; Under a Flare-Lit Sky: Vietnam Poems; and The Vietnam Years: 1000 Questions and Answers (co-author).
18 | FIRST-STOP SENIOR RESOURCE ORGANIZATIONS
18 | ESSENTIAL HEALTH AND MEDICAL ORGANIZATIONS
18 | STATE AND NATIONAL RESOURCES
• Abuse/Neglect, Exploitation, and Fraud or Discrimination
• Aging Advocacy and Support Services
• Health and Services Numbers
18–21 | COMMUNITY RESOURCES
• Dental Assistance
• Disability Services
• Education and Recreation
• Emergency Services and Utility Assistance
• Food Resources
• Grief and Loss Support
• Hearing
• Mental Health Services
• Resource Centers
• Resources for Independent Living
• Transportation
• Veterans Affairs
• Weatherization
FIRST-STOP SENIOR RESOURCE ORGANIZATIONS
SENIOR RESOURCE CENTER FOR DOUGLAS COUNTY (SRC)
745 Vermont St.
785.842.0543 yoursrc.org
JAYHAWK AREA AGENCY ON AGING
2001 Haskell
785.235.1367
TDD/TYY: 800.766.3777 jhawkaaa.org
ESSENTIAL HEALTH AND MEDICAL ORGANIZATIONS
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES
911
LAWRENCE/DOUGLAS COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT
785.843.3060 ldchealth.org
LAWRENCE-DOUGLAS COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT CLINIC
200 Maine Street
785.843.0721 ldchealth.org
LAWRENCE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL/LMH HEALTH
785.505.5000 lmh.org
HASKELL INDIAN HEALTH CENTER (NATIVE AMERICAN PATIENTS ONLY)
785.843.3750
POISON CONTROL
800.222.1222 poison.org
STATE AND NATIONAL RESOURCES
ABUSE/NEGLECT, EXPLOITATION AND FRAUD OR DISCRIMINATION
ADULT CARE COMPLAINT PROGRAM
800.842.0078
ADULT PROTECTIVE SERVICES
800.922.5330
KANSAS PROTECTION REPORT CENTER
800.922.5330
KANSAS ADVOCATES FOR BETTER CARE
785.842.3088 www.kabc.org
KANSAS ATTORNEY GENERAL
Topeka
785.296.2215 or 888.428.8436
Consumer Protection Division
800.432.2310
KANSAS DEPARTMENT FOR AGING AND DISABILITY SERVICES (KDADS)
Abuse, Neglect or Exploitation Hotline
800.842.0078
KANSAS CRISIS HOTLINE
888.363.2287
KANSAS ELDER LAW HOTLINE
888.353.5337
KANSAS LONG TERM CARE OMBUDSMAN
877.662.8362
AGING ADVOCACY AND SUPPORT SERVICES
AGING AND DISABILITY RESOURCE CENTER (ADRC)
800.432.3535
kdads.ks.gov
ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION
HEART OF AMERICA CHAPTER
800.272.3900
ELDERCARE LOCATOR
US Administration on Aging
800.677.1116
eldercare.acl.gov
KANSAS FOUNDATION FOR MEDICAL CARE, INC.
785.273-2552 or 800.432.0770
kfmc.org
NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Non-commercial resource for health and wellness information
800.222.2225
TTY: 800.222.4225
nia.nih.gov
HEALTH AND SERVICES NUMBERS
AARP KANSAS
866.448.3619
ADULT ABUSE AND NEGLECT
In the community 800.922.5330
In an adult care home 800.842.0078
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS (24-HOUR HELP LINE)
785.842.0110
AL-ANON (FOR FRIENDS AND FAMILIES OF ALCOHOLICS)
888.425.2666
ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION
800.272.3900
AMERICAN DIABETES ASSOCIATION
800.342.2383
AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION
800.242.8721
AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION
800.586.4872
ARTHRITIS FOUNDATION
800.283.7800
AUDIO READER
785.864.4600 reader.ku.edu
CONSUMER HOTLINE (ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE)
800.432.2310
DISABILITY RIGHTS CENTER OF KANSAS
877.776.1541
ELDERCARE LOCATOR
800.677.1116
HOUSING AND CREDIT COUNSELING, INC
800.383.0217
KANSAS COMMISSION FOR THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING
V/TTY: 866.213.9079 / Voice: 785.368.7471 / TTY: 785.246.7478 dcf.ks.gov
KANSAS COMMISSION ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS
785.296.3976
KANSAS DEPARTMENT FOR AGING AND DISABILITY SERVICES
800.432.3535 / TTY: 785.291.3167
KANSAS ELDER LAW HOTLINE
888.353.5337
KANSAS GUARDIANSHIP PROGRAM
800.672.0086
KANSAS INSURANCE DEPARTMENT
800.432.2484
LONG TERM CARE OMBUDSMAN
877.662.8362
MEDICAID FRAUD HOTLINE
866.551.6328
MEDICARE INFORMATION
1-800-MEDICARE or 800.633.4227
POISON CONTROL
800.222.1222
SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
Lawrence office 800.772.1213
SUBSTANCE ABUSE HOTLINE
800.662.4357
TELEMARKETERS NO CALL LIST
donotcall.gov
VETERANS AFFAIRS
VA CLINC
800.574.8387 x54650
COMMUNITY RESOURCES
DENTAL ASSISTANCE
DOUGLAS COUNTY
DENTAL CLINIC
785.312.7770
dcdclinic.org
DISABILITY SERVICES
COTTONWOOD
785.842.0550
cwood.org
INDEPENDENCE, INC.
785.841.0333
independenceinc.org
MAP PROGRAM (MANUFACTURING, ASSEMBLY AND PRODUCTION) JOB PROGRAM
785.842.0550 cottonwoodindustries.com
EDUCATION AND RECREATION
ADULT LEARNING CENTER
785.832.5960 usd497.org
DOUGLAS COUNTY
EXTENSION OFFICE
785.843.7058 douglas.ksu.edu
INDEPENDENCE, INC.
785.841.0333 independenceinc.org
KAW VALLEY BRIDGE CLUB
785.838.3196 kawvalleybridge.wordpress.com
KAW VALLEY QUILTERS GUILD kawvalleyquiltersguild.org
LAWRENCE ARTS CENTER
785.843.2787 lawrenceartscenter.org
LAWRENCE CIVIC CHOIR lawrencecivicchoir.org
LAWRENCE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
785.840.3072 lmh.org
LAWRENCE PARKS & RECREATION
785.832.7920 lawrenceks.org/lprd/home
OSHER LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUTE
913.897.8530 osher.ku.edu
SENIOR RESOURCE CENTER FOR DOUGLAS COUNTY
785.842.0543 yoursrc.org
JAYHAWK GLOBAL (UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS CONTINUING EDUCATION)
lpe.ku.edu
EMERGENCY SERVICES AND UTILITY ASSISTANCE
AMERICAN RED CROSS
785.843.3550 redcross.org/local/kansas
BALLARD COMMUNITY CENTER
785.842.0729 ballardcenter.org
DOUGLAS COUNTY ECKAN
785.841.3357
eckan.org/community_centers/douglas
HOUSING AND CREDIT COUNSELING, INC.
785.234.0217
housingandcredit.org
INDEPENDENCE, INC.
Fiscal Management Services for Frail/Elderly Medicaid Waiver
785.841.0333
independenceinc.org
SOCIAL SECURITY
800.772.1213
ssa.gov
FOOD RESOURCES
CHAMPSS MEAL PROGRAMS (JAYHAWK AREA AGENCY ON AGING)
785.235.1367
jhawkaaa.org
JUBILEE CAFÉ
fumclawrence.org/jubilee
JUST FOOD
785.856.7030
justfoodks.org
L.I.N.K. (LAWRENCE INTERDENOMINATIONAL NUTRITION KITCHEN)
785.331.3663
linklawrence.org
LAWRENCE MEALS ON WHEELS
785.830.8844
lawrencemow.org
GRIEF AND LOSS SUPPORT
MIDLAND CARE
785.842.3627
midlandcareconnection.org
RUMSEY-YOST FUNERAL HOME AND CREMATORY Aftercare and Grief services
785.843.5111
rumsey-yost.com
WARREN MCELWAIN MORTUARY Beyond Loss Support Workshop
785.843.1120
HEARING
KANSAS COMMISSION FOR THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING (KCDHH)
V/TTY: 800.432.0698
Voice: (785) 368-8034
dcf.ks.gov
MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
BERT NASH COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH CENTER
785.843.9192
bertnash.org
KANSAS SUICIDE PREVENTION HQ
785.841.2345 or 800.273.8255
ksphq.org
RESOURCE CENTERS
CENTRO HISPANO RESOURCE CENTER
785.843.2039
DOUGLAS COUNTY LEGAL AID SOCIETY
(785) 864-5564
lawrenceks.org/attorney/legal_aid
INDEPENDENCE, INC.
785.841.0333
independenceinc.org
JAYHAWK AREA AGENCY
ON AGING
785.235.1367
TDD/TYY: 800.766.3777 jhawkaaa.org
LAWRENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY
785.843.3833 lplks.org
SENIOR RESOURCE CENTER FOR DOUGLAS COUNTY (SRC)
785.842.0543 yoursrc.org
TAX ASSISTANCE AARP
TAX AIDES
785.842.0543 yoursrc.org
RESOURCES FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING
PROJECT LIFESAVER
Douglas County Sheriff’s Department
785.832.5204 dgso.org
VISITING NURSES
785.843.3738 kansasvna.org
TRANSPORTATION
LAWRENCE TRANSIT SYSTEM
785.864.4644 lawrencetransit.org
SENIOR WHEELS
785.727.7876 yoursrc.org/senior-wheels
VETERANS AFFAIRS
KANSAS COMMISSION ON VETERANS AFFAIRS
785.296.3976 kcva.ks.gov
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
800.827.1000 va.gov
WEATHERIZATION
CITY OF LAWRENCE NEIGHBORHOOD RESOURCES DEPARTMENT
785.832.7700 lawrenceks.org/pds/housing_programs
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