The new Cardinal Direction Clinic, located on the campus of Holy Name Church, 2914 S. Third St., aims to move homeless and needy individuals in the direction of better health, said its director, Caden Seraphine.
On its opening day, Nov. 12, a team of six second-year University of Louisville medical students attended to the free clinic’s first 20 patients.
Seraphine, a medical student, said he and his peers attended to a variety of health concerns, including elderly individuals suffering from chronic medical conditions, such as high blood pressure.
“Some hadn’t been to the doctor in a long time,” he said. “A family was glad to speak with a physician; it had been years since they’d seen a doctor. Another patient was seen for bleeding from a cut. It was a unique opportunity to see a variety of things.”
The clinic is a partnership between Holy Name, Catholic Charities of Louisville’s Father Jack Jones Food Pantry, located next door, and the University of Louisville School of Medicine. It’s grand opening ceremony was held on Nov. 19.
Father William Bowling, pastor of Holy Name and St. Martin de Porres Church in West Louisville, blessed the clinic — located in the parish’s undercroft.
“I’m very pleased that the parish is able to partner with the University of Louisville and the Father Jack Jones Pantry to make this good thing happen,” said Father Bowling in a recent interview.
The student medical providers operate under the supervision of experienced phycisians, including Holy Name’s deacon, Dr. Jim Creely, an ear, nose and throat specialist. It is open on Wednesday evenings from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The clinic is open to clients of the Father Jack Jones Food Pantry and people in the area surrounding Holy Name who are homeless or otherwise in need, Seraphine said.
“It’s a pretty difficult course they’ve chosen to take precious time to help others. It’s a very impressive thing and a very Catholic thing.”
— Deacon Jim Creely
The food pantry, located in the basement of the parish’s old rectory, will also be open to serve clients during clinic hours with the help of UofL student volunteers, he noted. That’s in addition to the pantry’s normal opening hours on Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., he noted.
“We want people who can’t come (to the pantry) during the day to have access to the food and access to medical care at the same time, because those things are intertwined,” said Seraphine.
The Cardinal Direction Clinic will provide basic check-ups, cardiovascular screenings, physical exams, acute care and monitoring of chronic conditions, in addition to Flu and Covid testing and sports physicals.
Seraphine said referrals to resources in the community will also be an important part of the clinic’s offering.
“We want every patient who comes in to know the direction they’re going in,” he said. “We want to point them in the right direction that will be best for them.
“We recognize there are others better suited to care for them in the long run,” he added. “We’re not trying to be someone’s primary care (provider) for long-term help. We want to make sure we can help them build those connections and relationships.”
Lisa DeJaco Crutcher, CEO of Catholic Charities, said she’s excited about the new clinic.
Seraphine called to talk about the idea for the clinic last fall, and since then, he and the other students “took the ball and ran with it,” she said in a recent interview.
“They have done such an amazing job of pulling this from an idea to a reality,” she said. “I am excited. I love that they are helping us extend outreach into the community.”
DeJaco Crutcher said the area surrounding Holy Name is a “forgotten little pocket” of town consisting of a “significant homeless population, undocumented people connected to the backside of the track (at Churchill Downs), and a lot of not only poor people but people who don’t have insurance.”
The neighborhood was home to Catholic Charities’ headquarters for decades, she noted. Those offices were housed in a former convent and school located at 2911 S. Fourth Street on Holy Name’s campus. In the Spring of 2024, when the headquarters moved to its current location on East Broadway, DeJaco Crutcher made a promise to keep serving that area, she said.
“It’s a great way to move forward with what we wanted to do in that neighborhood, be more of a presence. They can use whatever help we can bring to them,” she said.
The Cardinal Connection Clinic is helping Catholic Charities “make good on that promise that we were not abandoning this neighborhood,” she added.
Deacon Creely, one of the physician supervisors, said the clinic helps the community but the students as well.
“It teaches them how to work with and walk with the people who will need their help,” he said in an interview. “Medicine is one human being helping to heal another human being. I hope the knowledge they gain will go with them as their careers progress.”
Recalling his own time in medical school, Deacon Creely said he’s impressed by the students’ work in building the clinic and their desire to help, knowing how little free time their medical training leaves them.
“It’s a pretty difficult course they’ve chosen, to take precious time to help others. It’s a very impressive thing and a very Catholic thing,” he said.
Deacon Creely said he hopes the clinic becomes a “long-term thing, a permanent thing, something the community can have confidence in.”
