by Holly Allen
Valley Falls Family Medicine will gain a new doctor this month in Dr. Elizabeth Wolfe-Meyer, a Nortonville native who has returned home to serve her community following medical school and training.
Dr. Wolfe-Meyer will fill the vacancy left behind by the retirement of Dr. Larry Campbell in April of 2021. Dr. Campbell had been filling in on a part-time basis since his retirement.
“Over the last several years KU/St. Francis have been looking to hire someone to practice rural medicine — a tough proposition as most doctors want to be in the city,” said Dr. James Rider. “We were lucky to find Dr. Wolfe-Meyer to fill the role.”
Valley Falls Family Medicine is a part of The University of Kansas Health System’s St. Francis Campus. Dr. Rider and his wife, Judy, have served the clinic since its inception in conjunction with the Public Health Service in 1978 — a total 46 years at Valley Falls thus far.
Dr. Rider will continue on with his current schedule of Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and one Saturday a month. Dr. Wolfe-Meyer will be seeing patients in the office four days a week with a fifth day set aside for paperwork. She is expected to begin later this month once credentialed through insurance to begin seeing patients.
“I’m really excited to get back into it and get settled in here,” said Dr. Wolfe-Meyer.
The new doctor was raised on the Funk Dairy and is the daughter of Jim and Katherine Wolfe and granddaughter of Donald and Ann Funk, all Nortonville. A 2011 graduate of Jefferson County North High School, Dr. Wolfe-Meyer herself was seen by Dr. Rider in the Valley Falls clinic as a child. She obtained her undergraduate degree from The University of Dallas in Irving, Texas, in 2015 where she was able to spend a semester on a satellite campus in Rome.
In 2021 she obtained her doctorate from the University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City. Since that time, she has been working to complete her supervised training as a fully practicing physician in Southern Colorado at Pueblo and Alameda. This kind of varied training allowed Dr. Wolfe-Meyer to find the aspects of her job she finds the most joy and passion in — namely in the woman’s health clinic. After completing her training and traveling, she knew it was time to come home to serve the community which raised her.
“I am so passionate about this area, and I know how hard it is to find good care in a rural place,” she stated. “We are lucky to have a local doctor’s office in this area. It can be difficult to take off work and drive an hour to get care for things which can be managed in a clinic setting. It has a huge impact on your health.”
Dr. Wolfe-Meyer and her husband, Daniel Meyer, a welder/blacksmith and stay-at-home dad to a 12 year-old and the couple’s 11-month-old son, Declan, recently bought a home in rural Atchison with 10 acres. They are excited about the small things that come with living in a rural area, like planting their own garden come spring, harvesting and canning, and being near relatives.
“I know what living here entails. My family is here and I’m happy to be here,” she stated. “The chances of my staying are greater because I have roots here.
Dr. Wolfe-Meyer expressed an appreciation that the Valley Falls office has an X-ray machine. She asked that they also purchase an ultrasound machine so that she might have an easier time with diagnostics and determining who can be seen in-office. She is excited at the prospect of working alongside a season physician such as Dr. Rider, who knows the other local providers for referrals, and hopes the combination of her contemporary training and his experience makes for a successful duo.
“I’m looking forward to the variety of cases a location such as this gets to see over the course of a day,” she said. “Everyone comes in with a story, and I’m hopeful to get to know my patients well in order to give them the best treatment possible.”
Dr. Wolfe-Meyer will be accepting new patients of all ages as soon as she begins in the office. She finds joy in working with patients from prenatal care to end-of-life geriatric care and well-child checks to adult screenings.
“We have been working hard to try to keep the office going all these years, and we wanted to make sure we could bring someone in for the future of the clinic and the community,” stated Dr. Rider. “It has been a great project to maintain physicians at this location over the years, and we are happy to have found Dr. Wolfe-Meyer.”
Valley Falls Family Medicine, 403 Sycamore, is open six days a week, with late hours on Wednesdays for the convenience of their patients. The office can be reached by calling 785-945-3263.
