By Remy Sisk
Photos by Matt Johnson
Hildegard House Medical Director Dr. Chuck Anderson on the mission of the nonprofit and its upcoming fundraiser, Cocktails for Compassion
In Louisville’s historic Butchertown neighborhood sits the two properties of Hildegard House, a nonprofit organization that is the only of its kind in the state; it is a comfort care home that provides compassionate care for individuals at the end of life who have no home or loved ones to care for them in order to allow them to die with dignity. Dr. Chuck Anderson is the resident medical director of Hildegard House.
The initial property – now known as the “Motherhouse” – opened in 2015 with its second location, just across the alley from the first, opening in 2023. Both offer three beds each to be filled by those at the end of life who have nowhere else to go. Thanks to the dedicated team of staff and volunteers at Hildegard House, including Anderson, those who come to Hildegard House may pass away in a safe and comforting place.
Anderson has been involved with it from the beginning. He’s a pulmonologist as well as a sleep medicine doctor and board-certified hospice doctor who serves as medical director of the Palliative Care Unit at Baptist Health Louisville. When Hildegard House Executive Director Karen Cassidy was working toward its opening, she was in talks with some Baptist Health nurses, and they encouraged Cassidy to reach out to Anderson.
“Initially when I got involved, I was the medical director of the house and I didn’t have a lot of involvement with patients,” Anderson recalls. “But after a couple years, Karen and I talked, and I said, ‘Hey, why don’t you let me be the attending of all the patients and they can call me and I will see the patients and I will take care of them.”
From that moment on, Anderson has streamlined the home’s care and been the sole attending doctor at Hildegard House, helping people in their final days to be the most at peace and the most comfortable they can be.
Part of what compels Anderson – whose palliative work extends from Hildegard to Baptist – to be involved with this side of medicine is the revolutionary newness of it and the self-sovereignty that is at its core. He remembers the dialogue surrounding the Supreme Court hearing right-to-die cases and understanding the agency these decisions now afforded the individual.
“The Supreme Court had a lot of decisions where you can make your own decision,” he shares. “It was legal to withdraw life support. It was legal to stop tube feedings – so people could have their own autonomy. That movement was underfoot in the nation.”
As this movement became practice and patients could choose to decline life support, it called on medical professionals to reconcile treatment of patients with knowing they were not going to survive. “Some people would say, ‘They’re withdrawing life support, so I’m signing off. I’m not taking care of them anymore,’” he remembers, “or, ‘There’s nothing else for us to do,’ which – there’s a lot to do! We can give them medicines to treat their shortness of breath, medicine to treat their pain, medicine to treat their nausea. People can help them with their spirituality. We can help them with end-of-life things as well.”
Anderson was so taken with this direction of medicine that he helped start the palliative unit at Baptist, and nearly 10 years later, he doesn’t think twice about giving his time, services and energy to those at Hildegard House.
Now, Hildegard House welcomes anyone who finds themselves needing its services. This can indeed include the homeless, but also the home serves as an extension of hospitals; for many, Hildegard House can be a better option than a nursing facility. Additionally, there are those who perhaps have a home and spouse but no one to adequately give them the care they need. Consequently, theorganization serves a varied and diverse population but is equitableand intentional about the high level of comfort and care it provides to all.
In order to continue their ongoing impact they make daily in the community, Hildegard House will be hosting the large-scale fundraiser Cocktails for Compassion this September. The event aims to raise awareness as well as funds for the future of the nonprofit and will see Anderson and his wife, Denise, as honorary chairs.
Cocktails for Compassion will take place at Waterfront Botanical Gardens and offer guests music, drinks, heavy appetizers and a raffle, all in the name of fundraising for this imperative and impactful organization. “I hope if someone’s not familiar with Hildegard House, then this helps get the word out about what we’re doing,” Anderson says of the event. “Or if they have familiarity with it, then this will encourage them to continue supporting it.”
Tickets as well as sponsorship opportunities for Cocktails for Compassion are available at hildegardhouse.org on August 1st, where you can also get more information on volunteering or make a donation for any amount.
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