Kristen Decker grew up listening to business conversations at the dinner table — not balance sheets or profit margins, but stories about people. People who need equipment to live more independently. Those navigating an injury, illness or aging. Individuals whose lives could be quietly changed by whether a service was done well, thoughtfully and with care. For Decker, Handi Medical Supply was never just a company. It was a living expression of a mission she absorbed from her parents long before she had a job title.
Today, Decker is the rehab field manager at Handi Medical Supply, a durable medical equipment provider founded and based in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is an Assistive Technology Professional and Complex Rehabilitation Technology Supplier and also serves as iNRRTS U.S. Review Chair for Region D — roles that reflect both her technical expertise and her commitment to her profession. With almost a decade of experience in the DME industry, Kristen leads a team of ATPs and CRTSs delivering mobility and rehab solutions.
Handi Medical Supply was founded in 1988 by Decker’s mother, Mary Benhardus, a personal care assistant in the Twin Cities at the time, who saw firsthand how fragmented and frustrating access to medical equipment could be for her patients. While studying to become a nurse, Benhardus recognized a gap: It often took several providers to assemble the basics her patients needed to live at home. Her response was practical and quietly radical: build a single, customer-focused organization that could meet patients’ needs with dignity, consistency and care.
From the beginning, the founding idea — enriching lives — became the lens through which decisions were made, even as the company grew well beyond its early years. Today, Handi Medical Supply employs more than 100 people and remains a privately held company. The organization occupies a space that resists easy categorization: large enough to innovate and invest, small enough to stay deeply connected to the people it serves.
Growing up immersed in that environment gave Decker a unique view of what it means to run a health care business. Her mother and father, Shann Benhardus, were candid about the challenges and responsibilities that came with leadership. Financial sustainability mattered, of course, but it was always framed as a means to a larger end. Longevity was not about growth for its own sake; it was about remaining present for the community year after year.
“I always knew that helping people and enriching lives was what I wanted to do,” Decker said. The question was never whether she would join the family business, but in what capacity. Beginning at age 18, she worked at the front desk of Handi Medical Supply, face-to-face with customers, learning the rhythms of the organization from the ground up. She later earned a bachelor’s degree in organizational communications with a focus on health care administration and management from Bethel University. This educational foundation blended people-centered communication with operational thinking.
Decker’s perspective has been shaped by individual moments, especially early in her career. She recalls a customer who came in for compression stockings, a straightforward transaction she completed quickly. The man lingered, talking longer than she expected, and Decker found herself internally urging the conversation along. Then the customer apologized. He hadn’t left his house in a week, he explained. She was the first person he had spoken to. “That stopped me in my tracks,” Decker said. “This was bigger than just selling someone socks.”
When Decker graduated from college, COVID-19 was in its early days. Amid the uncertainty reshaping the health care landscape, she used the time to explore where she could have the most significant impact. She shadowed colleagues, stepped into the rehab side of the business and quickly discovered how deeply the work resonated. She entered the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America ATP program, earned her certification and spent time in customer-facing sales before moving into leadership.
Working in customers’ homes as an ATP, Decker encountered the full emotional weight of rehab work. Sometimes new equipment represents freedom and excitement. Other times, it marks a difficult transition — a loss, a diagnosis, a change no one wanted. In those moments, the work becomes less about orders and more about presence. “It’s an honor that people trust us to be part of their journey,” she said.
Now, Decker manages Handi Medical Supply’s ATP team, rehab sales and complex rehab technicians — four ATPs based in St. Paul, one in southern Minnesota and a team of technicians who support them. While she no longer carries her own caseload, Decker steps in when cases require additional consideration, providing guidance rooted in both clinical understanding and an organizational perspective.
“I take our mission of enriching lives and ask how I can enrich my employees’ lives,” Decker said. That means advancing the customer experience by streamlining processes, strengthening communication and removing friction so her team can focus on what matters most: the individual in front of them.
Decker is candid about the challenges her team faces, especially the emotional and logistical stamina required in complex rehab. The work is meaningful, but relentless. There is always another referral, another documentation hurdle and another customer navigating a life-altering transition. Kristen sees her role as fostering sustainable momentum and supporting resilience without allowing burnout to become the cost of care.
That emphasis on sustainability extends beyond internal culture. One of the most explicit expressions of Handi Medical Supply’s forward-thinking approach is its long-standing commitment to community education and coverage advocacy. In 1998, the company held its first equipment conference, modestly held in the company’s parking lot. The goal was simple: bring health care professionals together to understand changing coverage requirements and emerging products, particularly as Medicare documentation grew more complex.
Over time, that gathering evolved into a significant regional event. Handi Medical will host the annual conference, now rebranded as the Handi Abilities Showcase, May 1-2, 2026, at the Saint Paul River Centre. The event has expanded far beyond its original scope, partnering with organizations such as Courage Kenny Adaptive Sports and Recreation and opening its doors to the broader community.
What excites Decker most is the connective role the event plays. Clinicians, vendors, customers and families share the same space, discovering not only equipment but also possibilities. She recalls customers who attended the event and later shared that they had signed up for adaptive sports they never knew existed. For Decker, those moments affirm her belief that education is not abstract. It is life changing.
Coverage advocacy has become another focal point of her work. Earlier this year, Decker participated in a national fly-in event in Washington, D.C., an experience that reshaped her understanding of how policy change happens. What once felt like an untouchable system became, instead, a network of people making decisions. “If we can connect with people and share stories,” she said, “that’s where change happens.”
Her curiosity extends beyond national borders. Handi Medical Supply representatives have attended Rehacare in Düsseldorf, Germany, the world’s largest rehab expo, to explore technologies not yet available in the United States. Some of those products, Decker notes, could meaningfully enrich lives in the United States but face daunting regulatory barriers. Rather than dismissing them as impractical, Handi Medical Supply has pursued partnerships, helping navigate Food and Drug Administration processes and pricing, data analysis and coding to help bring new innovative solutions to U.S. consumers. Handi Medical Supply can explore ideas simply because of the possibility of improving the quality of life for its customers.
Asked what she looks for in ATPs and technicians beyond certification, Decker points first to character and integrity. Skills can be taught; mindset cannot. She values professionals who resist easy answers — who stay curious, collaborative and persistent in finding solutions that truly serve an individual, even when those solutions require extra effort or innovation.
That philosophy mirrors her broader vision for the industry: whole-person care grounded in collaboration, curiosity and respect. As an iNRRTS Registrant since 2021 and a CRTS since 2023, Decker continues to invest in the profession she grew up around, helping shape its future while honoring its responsibility to enrich the lives of others.
Away from work, Decker’s focus shifts to home and the delight and challenge of raising a toddler. She and her husband, Dominic Decker, a union pipe fitter with St. Paul Local 455, have a 2-year-old son, Miles Decker. Time together often centers on travel, outdoor adventures, hockey and most recently, Decker has taken up sourdough baking. Regular trips to visit family in Florida and Montana provide time to slow down and reconnect.
“For me, the work is not about preserving a legacy unchanged. It is about honoring its purpose by allowing it to evolve.” When Decker considers what Handi Medical Supply needs to remain thriving for the next generation, the answer is both familiar and forward-looking: listen closely, stay curious, strengthen partnerships and choose, again and again, to enrich lives.
Kristen may be reached at kdecker@handimedical.com.
Kristen Decker, ATP, CRTS, is the rehab field manager for Handi Medical Supply, based in St. Paul, Minnesota. The family-owned business is privately owned and employs over 100 people. Decker also serves as iNRRTS U.S. Review Chair for Region D.