Danny Hunt: Spreading Humankindness, One Smile A Time

Danny Hunt is in the unique position of spreading Saint Joseph’s humankindness concept to not only patients but to caregivers, other staff and visitors at Saint Joseph East.

Hunt, the Kentucky ministry’s overall 2025 Employee of the Year, is the unofficial greeter at the hospital’s cafeteria, where he works at the cashier’s station.

“His kind smile and friendly greetings brighten the day of patients, visitors and staff alike,” a nominator wrote. “He has an extraordinary ability to make others feel seen, valued and cared for no matter how busy he is.”

Making a Difference Through Daily Interactions

Hunt said he believes he’s where God intended him to be. “I’m able to help people and give back and talk to people every single day from 6:30 a.m. in the morning until 3 p.m. in the afternoon,” he said. “There are times when you never know what someone is going through. I want to make a difference with a smile, a laugh, a hug or a gesture. To me, if I can make one person’s day, then I did my job.”

His kindness inspires those who pass through the cafeteria. His backstory also inspires those who know it. Hunt, who has been working at Saint Joseph East for 16 years, suffered a life-threatening intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke in January 2023, caused by high blood pressure.

“I could have died,” he said. Before arriving in the emergency room, he had been feeling ill, with slurred speech, balance problems and a headache. The blood clot that caused the stroke was removed from his brain, and what followed were months of rehabilitation and therapy — physical, speech and occupational. “I lost my left side — I couldn’t even sit up in my bed,” Hunt said. “I kept pushing through it and had faith, and I was doing the work.”

He returned to his job — at the time in the Maintenance Department — in May of that year. “I will never be 100 percent. I still have some defects on my left side, but I’m alive,” he said.

“Would I go through it again? No, but my journey was amazing. God got me out of it, God got me through it.”

Hunt, 46, said he has always had a positive attitude. “I have seen a lot in my life. I’m really upbeat and outgoing and I’m not really a negative person…. I think before my stroke I was like this, but after my stroke sometimes God kind of tugs on you a little bit. I just stay positive and stay away from negativity and try to keep my faith in front. We have our bad days, but I try not to show it and I pray about it. I think faith gets me through.”

From Stroke Recovery to Continued Dedication

The positivity stands in contrast to his start in life. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, he said he never knew his background or his parents when he was young. He was raised from an early age by an aunt in Lexington, where he moved in the fourth grade. 

Hunt graduated from Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, then entered the workforce, including a job at Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital. He studied for a little over two years at Bluegrass Community and Technical College.

Joining the ministry, he began working in Environmental Services before transferring to Maintenance. A couple of years ago, he moved to Food Services, first as a cook and then as a cashier. He switched to the cashier job because the hours allow him to see more of his daughter, Arianna Hunt, 12, who lives in Richmond with her mother, with whom he has an amicable co-parenting relationship.

“I’m able to be a part of her life every day as a caring father and I’m able to give back to her something that I never had,” Hunt said. “She has a loving mother and a loving father who are both in her life. She has grandparents. I really didn’t have that growing up when I was young. But God put me in this position now to be a part of her, the way I wasn’t a part of my family.”

Hunt said he tries to show Saint Joseph’s values and its concept of humankindness by treating everyone equally and respectfully. “Don’t be negative toward people, show your integrity, show your personality and positive attitude and stay that way,” he said. “And excellence comes with everything in between – how you carry yourself and the way you approach things in your position. I think it all comes full circle: You would treat a patient in the same way you would treat a nurse like you would treat any human being…. as you would want to be treated.”

Recently, a friend and neighbor of his suffered a stroke, and Hunt visited her several times in the hospital. When he was recognized by a couple of the nurses who had cared for him, he took out his cellphone and played a video the hospital had made to document his remarkable recovery, telling them: “’This is what you guys do. This is how you all save lives.’ I wanted to give back to them and share with them what they’ve done for me. So it was two or three blessings for the price of one!”

Interested in making a difference and helping build healthier communities? Explore current career opportunities at CommonSpirit Health.