Funeral services held for Mud Creek Clinic founder
By TONY FYFFE
BSN Editor
MARTIN — Funeral services were held Tuesday for Appalachian activist and healthcare pioneer Eula Hall, who one elected official called “one of Eastern Kentucky’s greatest saints.”
“No challenge was greater than her courage to change the circumstances of healthcare in the mountains,” U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers said in a tribute to Hall, who founded the former Mud Creek Clinic at Grethel that now bears her name.
Hall died Saturday at the age of 93 at her home at Craynor.
“Driven by her own experience with poverty, Eula dedicated her life to ensuring every person had access to medical care, regardless of their ability to pay for services or prescriptions,” Rogers said. “She pioneered hope on Mud Creek and far beyond the borders of Floyd County. When I called Eula on her 90th birthday, she was doing what she loved most — working at the clinic that she transformed from a home-grown operation into a modern facility with state-of-the-art equipment. She will always be a legend in Kentucky’s Appalachian region and an inspiration to never stop serving those around us.”
Hall founded the Mud Creek Clinic in 1973 to provide health care to those in need.
“When the original Mud Creek Clinic burned down in 1982, Eula moved the clinic into her own home,” said a press release from Big Sandy Health Care, which now operates the facility. “With her usual tenacity and perseverance, she matched $80,000 in funds from the Appalachian Regional Commission and raised an additional $40,000 within her community to rebuild the clinic and to purchase new x-ray equipment.”
In 2011, the Big Sandy Health Care Board of Directors renamed the facility the Eula Hall Health Center to honor her dedication and years of service to the Grethel community.
Upon her death Saturday, Big Sandy Health Care said Hall “never stopped working for quality health care for the people of Appalachia.”
“Born into poverty, she experienced many of the health care inequities she spent her life advocating against on behalf of others,” the agency said on its Facebook page. “She leaves a lasting legacy that Big Sandy Health Care will strive to continue in her honor.”
The facility and its dental center closed Tuesday to allow staff to attend Hall’s funeral.
Hall is survived by three sons, Troy B. Hall of Jeffersonville, Ind., and Danny K Hall and Dean Hall, both of Craynor; a daughter: Nanetta Yates of Hager Hill; eight grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren.
Funeral services were held Tuesday at Hall Funeral Home at Martin, with burial in Newsome Cemetery at Craynor.