(continued from page 37)
“When I joined in 1987, part of the deal was that I spend one day
each week visiting nursing home patients. Doing that, I realized I
liked the really great life stories I heard from patients,” Dr. Henry
said. “I got more interested and more experienced. So when Norton
bought our group, I asked if they’d let me out of the office to develop
the nursing home practice.”
Dr. Henry with her
husband Dr. Brian Moore.
Jefferson Internal Medicine Associates was one of the first groups
purchased by Norton to become part of their Community Medical
Associates. Overall, Dr. Henry says the move was positive. “The bad
part is that you give up the idea of total control, but I think, for us
anyway, the advantages of administrative and bureaucratic back up
were worth the change.”
Dr. Henry met her future husband, Dr. Brian Moore around that
time on a blind date, and the couple soon married in 1991. They
have a son together, Patrick Henry Moore, age 19. Dr. Moore is a
psychologist who teaches part time at JCTC and provides both group
and individual therapy at Wellspring, an agency which provides
housing and intensive support services for the seriously chronically
mentally ill.
In addition to raising a child, the 1990s saw Dr. Henry pursue
several career goals simultaneously. She worked closely with Parkway Medical Center, eventually becoming the medical director.
She also volunteered at the Will Ward Clinic and later served as
medical director.
“I’m not sure I knew what I was getting into,” she laughed. “A lot
of doctors cleaned
out their medical
Dr. Henry with son, Patrick
closets to give us
supplies. So, we had
garbage bags full of
drug samples, and
we had to do something with them. I
remember going
down there one Saturday with my niece
and nephew who
were 10 and 6 at
the time. I had them
pile all the samples
starting with A in
one pile, B in another, etc. That’s how
we sorted through
everything.”
While working
at the clinic, Dr.
Henry was also establishing the Norton Geriatrics and
House Calls program with Dr. Robert Powell, Norton
medical director. A
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LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
huge success, the program’s physicians and nurse practitioners
now visit approximately 300 patients in their home each month.
Dr. Henry still works with the group, handling communications
from her home office.
In October 2012, Dr. Henry suffered a hemorrhagic stroke putting
her out of commission for six months and giving her decreased left
hand and arm mobility. At the time, she had already developed
significant bilateral lower extremity weakness due to MS. However,
she already had the power wheelchair she still uses today, using it
primarily for distances and getting around while at work. “Now
I do all the work I can from home. Norton scans and emails me
faxes and reports from the nursing homes each day which I triage.
All the paper, lab reports, phone calls, drug pre-authorizations and
bureaucratic snafus that might come up go to me,” she said.
Following her stroke, Dr. Carmel Person stepped in as medical
director at Parkway. Today, the two share responsibilities with Dr.
Henry handling communications whenever possible. “When I was
making visits, we would each spend one or more days a week just
handling phone calls. We’d hardly get anybody seen. Since I do all
that now, hopefully it allows the other physicians and nurse practitioners to make visits without too many interruptions. I would rather
be out and about, but it’s a good way to keep my foot in the door.”
When she isn’t working, Dr. Henry spends much of her time
reading or visiting the Highlands with her husband. A fan of nonfiction works both professional (the work of Dr. Oliver Sacks and
other physician authors) and tantalizing (true crime), Dr. Henry
has a continuous stack of books to finish. “I have one I’m going to
start soon about an old Australian case where two teenage girls
murdered their mother. I’ve always had this morbid interest in
those things. And I’m embarrassed to say I like watching true crime
shows too,” she laughed.
Dr. Henry and her family also keep the company of two rescue
dogs, one poodle and one labrador/golden retriever mix.
Jefferson County owes many thanks to Dr. Kitty Henry. Without
her lifetime of commitment to Louisville health care, programs such
as The Healing Place and Norton House Calls would be radically
different from how we know them today. Though quick to name
others she th