12
doc • Spring 2015
Kentucky
Profile in Compassion
Serving needy children
and their families
Bill Underwood, MD
By John A. Patterson
M.D., MSPH, FAAFP
I first met Bill Underwood,
MD during my pediatrics
rotation as part of the family
practice residency at UK in
1978. At that time, he was voluntary medical director of the non-profit Baby Health
Service (BHS), a position he held for almost
30 of its 100 years. Bill first learned about
BHS during his pediatrics residency at UK
in 1966. At that time, residents could not
work at BHS unsupervised but his department chair eventually looked the other way
when he saw Bill working there regularly. He
says ‘I fell in love with these families. They
couldn’t afford medical care and had sick
children. It was a wonderful experience for
me to be able to meet that need.’
After practicing pediatrics many years
at Lexington Clinic and UK, he retired
this past December but will continue to
see patients at BHS one day each week
and other days as needed. Nurse Donna
Sizemore explained that Bill does not want
the clinic to ever be closed 4 consecutive
days, for fear of potential consequences for a
sick child or worried parent. For this reason,
he and his wife keep the clinic open the
Friday after Thanksgiving every year, with
no other staff on site. She says he is ‘driven
from within’ to serve needy families with
children, even though he himself modestly
suggests it’s just his way of responding to his
‘lifelong ADHD’.
Where did this interest in compassionate
service come from? He recalls working
alongside his parents, serving meals and