J Andrew Cassis II

Hometown: Carmel, IN

Education: Andrew is a graduate of Indiana University, Bloomington.

Community Support: Andrew is a member of St. Mary’s of the Knobs and is involved with several organizations, including Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kentuckiana, IU Foundation, Dare to Care, KY & IN SHRM, Stuttering Association as well as many others. He is also the co-founder of Stutter Navigator. 

Occupation: Andrew is a Partner, Kentucky & Tennessee Health & Benefits Practice Leader with Mercer.

Family: Andrew is married to Angie and they have two children, Claire and Drew, and two dogs.

Why did you choose to get involved with Baptist Health?

As a Partner at Mercer— the largest healthcare benefits consulting firm in the world where Andrew oversees the Tennessee and Kentucky region— the ability to quickly pivot and problem solve comes naturally. When his Apple Watch alerted him to an irregular heartbeat, Andrew Cassis anticipated a quick in-and-out experience at his local emergency department. Andrew’s watch detected an unusually slow heart rhythm while he was at dinner during a business trip leading to an interaction that ultimately saved his life.  

“After my watch went off, I called my physician but felt good enough to drive the additional 3 hours back home,” he said. “The experience at the Baptist Health Floyd Emergency Department was seamless, it could not have gone smoother, but what I wasn’t prepared for was to hear that I would need heart surgery.”

While unexpected news caught Andrew off guard, it didn’t prevent him from channeling his business mindset and immediately thinking through next steps.

“I am a business executive and leader in the community, but I am also a husband and a father, I wanted to be sure that surgery, especially a surgery on my heart, was a necessary step,” he said. “I sought a second, and then third opinion, from other reputable healthcare facilities and had to face that this was something I would have to do.”

For Andrew, his experience wasn’t summed up in the success of his surgery, but rather centered on the people who cared for him throughout his entire hospital stay.

“I can’t say enough about my nurses, and I will never be able to express my full gratitude over the impact they had on me during one of the most difficult experiences of my life,” he said. “The empathy, attitudes, positivity, knowledge and hard work exhibited by each nurse who I came across is something that I will never forget. There aren’t enough adjectives to do them justice, but I know that they are a light to every patient they serve and what sets Baptist Health apart from anywhere else.”