‘She’s changed thousands of lives.’ Eula Hall, founder of Kentucky medical clinic, has died.

Eula Hall, 93, who devoted her life to making sure people in Floyd County had access to health care and other basic necessities, died Saturday morning.

Hall, of Craynor, founded the Mud Creek Clinic with $1,400 in donations in 1973. The clinic is now known as the Eula Hall Health Center and is operated by Big Sandy Health Care.

Hall was credited with bringing medical care to a remote area where it was not available, and making sure that it continued in spite of fire, flooding, lack of good roads and poor funding.

“Nothing comes easy up on Mud Creek,” said Hall’s longtime friend, former Kentucky House Speaker Greg Stumbo. “It was always a fight.”

Stumbo said Hall was slowed down by obstacles, but they never stopped her.

“The world needs more Eula Halls,” he said.

She was a former president of the Kentucky Black Lung Association who fought for better water service and free lunches for schoolchildren.

In addition to medical treatment, Hall’s clinic provides dental care, food and more. Greg Stumbo, who said he knew and worked with Hall for about 50 years, said Saturday that the work of the clinic will go on, but that Hall’s absence will certainly leave a big void.

When he talked to her last spring, Stumbo said Hall was devising plans for a nursing home.

“Eula never stopped thinking about what can I do to help my neighbors and my friends,” he said.

Hall told the Herald-Leader in a 2018 interview that she wanted health care to be available to everyone, whether they could pay for it or not.

“Nobody should have to suffer for the lack of health care in a country like ours,” she said. “People’s not poor by choice.”

At the time, she was 90 years old and had no plans to retire from her work at the clinic.

“It gives me joy to help people. If I get down here, I can do it or get it done,” she said. “I’m gonna do what I want to as long as I know what I’m doing.”

Hall was born in the Greasy Creek community of Pike County and joined the Volunteers in Service to America during Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency, according to an online obituary.

She “rose to prominence as an activist as a member of the local 979 community group and the Eastern Kentucky Welfare Rights Organization,” the obituary states.

Hall was known to jump in and help wherever she saw a need, sometimes digging into her own purse to do so.

When the water company was laying lines and didn’t have the manpower to direct traffic, Floyd County Judge-Executive Robbie Williams said Hall was out there in the road helping.

People having trouble with Social Security went to her for advice and help dealing with the government.

“Eula would take their case,” Stumbo quipped.

And the food pantry at the clinic was a no-questions-asked kind of place, he said.

“She never wanted to see anybody go without medical care or go without food,” Stumbo said.

Hall was not one to be intimidated by someone telling her “no.”

“She got her point across,” Williams said. “She fought for what she believed.”

He said he knew Hall to be fair in her decision-making.

“She would think things through,” he said.

Stumbo said he quickly learned to just do what Hall wanted, because she wanted what was best for the people of the area, and she was going to get whatever it was anyway.

“Everybody knew that Eula’s heart was where it should be,” he said. “Nobody ever questioned Eula’s resolve to get things done. ...It was no use to argue with Eula.”

Williams said Hall “was a champion of not just Floyd County, but of the region as a whole.”

“She’s changed thousands of lives,” Williams said. “She helped develop an entire region into what it is today.”

Sen. Mitch McConnell issued a statement offering his condolences Saturday night, saying, “this self-described ‘hillbilly activist’ forever changed the lives of her patients, neighbors, and friends.

“She was among the toughest women I’ve ever met, overcoming one challenge after another to serve those who had nowhere else to turn. Even after a fire burned down the clinic, her team didn’t miss a single day. Slowing down was simply never an option. When we spoke on the phone just a couple of weeks ago, Eula’s entire focus remained on those she could help.

“Since Eula opened her doors nearly 50 years ago, she blessed her community and our entire Commonwealth with care and a generous spirit. Eula never craved the spotlight, even as she gained fans and praise nationwide.”

U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers said in a statement that when he called Hall on her 90th birthday, she was doing what she loved most — working at the clinic.

“No challenge was greater than her courage to change the circumstances of healthcare in the mountains,” Rogers, a Republican, said of Hall. “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. She will always be a legend in Kentucky’s Appalachian region and an inspiration to never stop serving those around us.”

Hall was the widow of McKinley Hall and is survived by three sons and a daughter, along with grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Hall Funeral Home in Martin. Visitation will begin after 6 p.m. Sunday will continue all day Monday at the funeral home.