In the Parkland neighborhood, a much-needed, long-awaited hospital recently came to fruition.
Two years after breaking ground, Norton Healthcare inaugurated its West End campus with a monument to Louisville’s pioneering Black doctors and health care workers. The new facility is in a part of town where many residents are Black and on lower incomes, and their struggle to access reliable health care is reflected in health outcomes that are worse than other parts of Louisville.
The unveiling in October was met with gasps and applause from an audience that included the descendants of some of the pioneering doctors honored at the hospital. Stories and photos from over a century of Black physicians and nurses are etched onto plexiglass facing the street, and onlookers stopped to read and take in the names and faces of these lesser-known figures from Louisville’s history.
Aimee Green-Webb, a retired education professional, said she was there for a family member featured on the monument: Mary Etta Porter Potter, her great-great aunt. Dr. Potter established the Fraternal Hospital Training School for Nurses in the 1920s.
At a time when Black people couldn’t seek care at hospitals that only served white patients, Potter treated women and children from her home, Green-Webb said.
“We’re talking about pioneers who had to open their homes and create spaces so people could receive the health care they so desperately needed,” she said.
Health services are still greatly needed in west Louisville. Green-Webb said that’s been a problem in this area for more than a century.
“Something not even being available, something that we may take for granted, a doctor’s office, or an urgent care, a hospital, those things were not available to black people during that time,” Green-Webb said.
The hospital is part of the Norton Healthcare Goodwill Opportunity Campus. The facility offers 24-hour emergency services, a retail pharmacy, outpatient offices for adult and pediatric care, imaging services and operating rooms.
On the other side of the campus from the monument unveiling, there was a block party in full swing. The stretch of booths had something for everyone: – candy for the kids, blood sugar tests for the adults, performances by local artists, and representatives from local community organizations.
Community advocate Angela Jackson Brown said she’s happy the hospital is finally here. Brown was shocked when she heard long it had been since the West End had a hospital.
“A 100 years?! We got it now, and I’m grateful,” she said.
Brown said she hopes the hospital will help west Louisvillians get quicker access to emergency medical care, which could save lives. Until now, the closest hospitals were downtown.
“They shouldn’t have to go all the way downtown. How many minutes is that going through traffic? Twenty minutes, maybe, on a bad day? They could be dead,” she said.
According to the city’s 2024 health equity report, the average life expectancy in the West End is 65 years. Residents in the East End, which is overall whiter and more affluent, on average live over 15 years more than that.
The city reports Black residents die of cancer and heart disease at higher rates than any other racial or ethnic group in Jefferson County. Not having reliable access to medical care and health screenings can worsen those disparities.
La Creis Kidd, associate professor at the University of Louisville’s Department of pharmacology and toxicology, noted that compared to white women, Black women are 40% more likely to die from breast cancer.
Kidd is curious to see how the new hospital sets itself apart from other medical facilities in the city.
“It’ll be interesting to see if they provide any kind of preventive type of stuff,” she said.
The hospital is also expected to bring hundreds of jobs to the West End.
Janessa Moran, a hiring manager at Norton Healthcare, said she was amazed to see people lined up at their jobs booth at the block party.
“It’s been really important to us as an organization, providing access to be able to apply for positions, so that’s essentially why we’re here today.” she said at the event in October.
Arnold Alexander, a 77-year-old lifelong west Louisville resident, was interested in a job. He wants to get his Social Security credits so he can retire comfortably. He filled out a general job inquiry form at the booth and hopes he’ll get a call back soon.
“I would take whatever is available…and I can perform well… to get paid…get promoted,” he said.
The hospital is now open for patients.
