[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 132 (Tuesday, December 5, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2072-E2073]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TRIBUTE TO EULA HALL

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. HAROLD ROGERS

                              of kentucky

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 5, 2006

  Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to 
Ms. Eula Hall, an exceptional Kentuckian. On October 27, 2006, friends 
and colleagues of Eula Hall gathered at the Mud Creek Clinic on 
Kentucky Route 979, KY 979, in Grethel, KY, to celebrate the life and 
accomplishments of a brave mountain woman. As a result of a resolution 
passed unanimously by the Kentucky General Assembly, KY 979 will be 
renamed Eula Hall Highway.
  For the past 40 years, Eula Hall has probably traveled Kentucky Route 
979 more than anyone else. She was a woman with a mission--to bring 
quality health care to people who had no medical insurance and could 
not afford to pay for things like visits to the doctor, shots, 
prescription medicine, much less surgery, physical therapy, and other 
more expensive treatments and procedures. She's made it her life's work 
to make sure that no one within her reach goes without the basic health 
care they need to live full, productive lives.
  Born on Greasy Creek in Pike County, Eula didn't start school until 
she was 9 years old. She remembers crying on her last day of the eighth 
grade because she knew she couldn't continue her education. The closest 
high school was about 20 miles away, and school buses did not travel 
that far out in the county. She had six brothers and sisters; her 
parents didn't own a vehicle and as farm workers they couldn't afford 
to send her to boarding school or college.
  In 1973, as a young mother raising five children on her own, she 
realized the terrible toll that lack of proper health care took on 
people without money or insurance. She organized screenings using 
medical students from the University of Kentucky and Vanderbilt as well 
as volunteer nurses and physicians. They found undiagnosed 
tuberculosis, pneumoconiosis--black lung, diabetes, heart disease, and 
high blood pressure. Shortly afterward, Eula managed to get a clinic 
licensed to operate on Mud Creek in Floyd County. The Mud Creek Clinic 
opened in a rented house on Tinker Fork, which it quickly outgrew. Hall 
moved the facility to her own home on Mink Branch. Her house was bigger 
and easier to get to. But it meant moving her family into a mobile 
home. Eula Hall picked up patients and took them home because many of 
them had no means of transportation.
  By 1977 the clinic merged with Big Sandy Health Care, which remains 
its parent organization today. Today, there are 24 employees, including 
two full-time physicians, a full-time certified physician assistant, 
and a part-time doctor. The clinic is housed in a modern brick building 
with another facility behind it that houses a dental clinic and food 
pantry. Now she even works to get people their rightful Social Security 
and other benefits. Eula Hall is 78 years old but still goes to work at 
8 o'clock every morning.

[[Page E2073]]

  Mr. Speaker, on behalf of my colleagues and myself, I want to thank 
Eula Hall for her sacrifices and service on behalf of the people of 
Floyd County, KY. Her dedication and integrity are an inspiration to us 
all.

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