Alumni know her as Dr. Ruth. Current students know her as Nurse Ruth. Ruth Sarna, director of student health services, offers not only medical care, but also a smile or a hug.

“I can be generous in doing that for them, be the bright spot in their day sometimes,” Sarna said.

Sarna has been a nurse for 45 years, 20 of which at Baker, and she enjoys being here.<br/>"I love working with the students," she said. "I think they keep me young.""I love working with the students," she said. "I think they keep me young."
“I love working with the students,” she said. “I think they keep me young.”

Sarna grew up west of Topeka in Alma. Throughout elementary and high school, she spent a lot of time with her friend Joyce Lind.

Lind’s mother, Bertha, was a nurse at Kansas State University and was like a surrogate mother to Sarna.

“I always wanted to be a nurse,” Sarna said. “Little did I know that I would end up in a college setting like Joyce’s mom.”

After high school, Sarna went to Lutheran Hospital School of Nursing in St. Louis. Sarna found the job at Baker through an ad in the paper. Her stepson attended Baker at the time.

“I was a little leery of taking the job,” Sarna said. “But his response was, ‘Oh, that would be cool.'”

Baker was no stranger to Sarna, though. In addition to her stepson attending the university, her husband, Bob, was also a graduate.

“We have very strong Baker connections,” Sarna said.

Even after business hours, Sarna makes herself available to students by giving them her home phone number.

She has had several 2 a.m. calls, but she said she would rather students call than go without medical attention.

Sarna even joked about how easy it is for her to fall asleep after one of those calls, while for her husband it’s not.

“That’s the hazard of living with the nurse,” Sarna said with a chuckle.

In addition to serving as Baker’s Director of Student Health Services, Sarna is also the adviser for Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and she always hosts a picnic for the group at the end of the school year.

Debbie Guenther, coordinator of the student health and counseling center, has known Sarna for 25 years.

They began working together at Lawrence Health Care Plus. Guenther sold HMO plans to businesses and Sarna worked as a nurse.

Since then, Guenther has been at Baker for 18 years, eight of which she’s worked with Sarna.

“I can’t say enough about how she cares about the students,” Guenther said. “She really gives it her all.”

Guenther said Sarna is always there for students to talk to “whenever they have joys, hardships, whatever.”

Freshman Courtney Masrud has been in to see Sarna a couple times this school year.

One of those times was for a shot. While she wasn’t excited about the shot, she said Sarna was very nice about it and made it better.

Masrud also said Sarna is a very caring person, helping people not because she has to, but because she wants to.

Both Guenther and Masrud used the same word to describe Sarna: compassionate.

“She’s always been that way since I’ve known her,” Guenther said.

“She would be the epitome of a compassionate person,” Masrud said. “She (spends) her life taking care of people.”