they weren ’ t worthy . People want to feel valued . A beautiful space can make them feel valued . At CenterWell , they had so much intention in design – wider hallways for people with walkers , chairs that start in the sitting position and rise to a table , chairs that are weighted so people with arthritis can stand . And on top of that , they made the space look really nice . People feel more valued in a nice , clean space .”
When she ’ s not seeing patients , she ’ s still finding a way to serve others . She ’ s President of the local chapter of one of the oldest African American women organizations , Links Incorporated , and was a charter member of the Falls City Medical Society . In the last few years , she even joined a sorority , Alpha Kappa Alpha , the oldest African American women ’ s sorority in the country .
After meeting Rodney on their first day of college at Kalamazoo , they were hooked . By her side through it all , he also went back to school at UK , and got two more degrees , his MPH and MBA , and now works at Humana . They have three children – Raven is the oldest and lives in Ohio with her husband and three daughters . Next is Syandene ( with Dr . Evans ’ interest in West African studies , the name meaning “ punctual ” points to their daughter coming on God ’ s timing , not the couple ’ s ), who lives here in Louisville . The youngest is Calvin , and he ’ s a senior in college in Nashville . With their growing family , it ’ s hard to make schedules match up , but they try to do a big family trip every year or so .
With all of this on her plate , she still wants to do more and
leave her influence on health care , impacting the patients who need it most . She is still considering starting a foundation someday , to help bridge the things that health care isn ’ t delivering on and getting people the things that surround health that aren ’ t in a medical office , she said .
“ Medicine is hard work , but when you have those moments in the room where a patient says God put them there that day , that makes it all worth it . I love helping people , especially those that have been on the bottom a little bit ,” she said . “ I ’ ve been doing this roughly 20 years at this point , and now I want to get into the spaces where the decisions are being made . I need to be a stakeholder in those spaces to see the changes I want to help impact . I want my legacy to be one that I helped evolve health care into something that serves patients even better than what we ’ re doing today .”
Kathryn Vance is the Communication Specialist at the Greater Louisville Medical Society .
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