Eastern Kentucky Health Services, Inc. records
Abstract
The Eastern Kentucky Health Services, Inc. records (dated 1975-1983, undated; 47.5 cubic feet; 46 boxes and 7 folders) contain financial request applications from public and private Eastern Kentucky health facilities. EKHS, Inc. financially assisted numerous private health care facilities, from small single bed family care homes to large medical centers. The records also include reports and publications concerning health care facility services supported by EKHS, Inc., and some office files like correspondence and facility status updates.
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Eastern Kentucky Health Services, Inc. records
- Date
- 1975-1982, undated (inclusive)
- Extent
- 47.5 Cubic Feet
- Subjects
- Rural health clinics -- Kentucky
- Rural health -- Kentucky
- Health systems agencies
- Health care issues, costs, and access
- Community Health Services -- Kentucky
- Public health
- Health facilities -- United States.
- Public health -- Appalachian Region
- Arrangement
- Collection is arranged by format.
- Preferred Citation
- 1997MS355 : [identification of item], Eastern Kentucky Health Services, Inc. records, 1975-1982, undated, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
- Repository
- University of Kentucky
Collection Overview
- Biography / History
- In 1972, two natives of Eastern Kentucky, Benny Bailey and Grady Stumbo, returned to Appalachian Kentucky after receiving a MD and PHD respectively, to open a primary health care clinic. They chose to set up a facility in Knott County, which previously had previously had only two doctors for its 20,000 residents. Bailey and Stumbo sought private funds from foundations and corporations to support their facility because they believed federal grant guidelines were unrealistic for the Appalachia region. For example, contemporary ambulances could not travel the unpaved mountainous roads of Appalachia, but some federal grants required modern ambulances be purchased. By January 1973, Bailey and Stumbo had raised $1.5 million dollars in private funds to open the non-profit Eastern Kentucky Health Services, Inc. (EKHS) In 1976 they employed twenty two staff members and their clinic had become a model for more than 250 health care facilities throughout rural America. During the late 1970s and early 1980s EKHS financially assisted numerous private health care facilities, from small single bed family care homes to large medical centers in cities like Lexington, to purchase equipment needed or receive licensing required to establish a new service. The Eastern Kentucky Health Services Center, the original clinic opened by Bailey and Stumbo, continues to provide health care to the region. Throughout the first forty years, EKHS has been the subject of many publications and media about rural health care, as well as the recipient of many awards and accolades.
- Sources: "Bringing Health Care to Rural Kentucky." Updated June 18, 2012. Accessed 2015 July 15. www.rwjf.org/en/library/articles-and-news/2012/06/bringing-health-care-to-rural-kentucky.html
- Laurel Shackelford and Bill Weinberg. Our Appalachia: An Oral History. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1988. 357-359.
- "Two Sons of Appalachia Came Home Again and Brought a Badly Needed Clinic with Them" People Magazine. September 3, 1979. Accessed 2015 July 15. www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074483,00.html
- Scope and Content
- The Eastern Kentucky Health Services, Inc. (EKHS) records (dated 1975-1983, undated; 47.5 cubic feet; 46 boxes and 7 folders) primarily consist of financial request applications from public and private Eastern Kentucky health facilities as well as correspondence, reports, publications, and blueprints, which document public health initiatives in Appalachia during the 1970s and 1980s. EKHS financially assisted numerous private health care facilities, from small single bed family care homes to large medical centers. The facilities supported were located in most all central and far eastern Kentucky counties like Kenton, Wayne, Boyd and Letcher. EKHS also financed health facilities in larger cities, like Lexington, as well as small unincorporated towns in rural areas near Whitesburg and Harlan.
- The records primarily consist of "Certificates of Need", financial request applications submitted by hospitals, nursing homes, and other health agencies, in need of more modern medical equipment or up-to-date training. The "Certificates of Need" also contain blueprints and plans for the requested additions, new buildings, and expansions. Many of the "Certificate of Need" files include correspondence between EKHS and the applying facilities regarding services offered like home hospice care or larger comprehensive care hospitals.
- The collection also includes publications and reports about the EKHS rules and regulations as well as their annual financial reports consisting of profit margins, projected number of patients for upcoming years, and charts relaying the current number of patients, beds, and employees.
- Finally, the Eastern Kentucky Health Services, Inc. records contain some office files from 1982 like correspondence to EKHS, Inc. employees, unofficial facility status updates and audio cassettes from meetings about the progress of previously funded facilities.
Restrictions on Access and Use
- Conditions Governing Access
- Collection is open to researchers by appointment.
- Use Restrictions
- Property rights reside with the University of Kentucky. The University of Kentucky holds the copyright for materials created in the course of business by University of Kentucky employees. Copyright for all other materials has not been assigned to the University of Kentucky. For information about permission to reproduce or publish, please contact Special Collections.
Contents of the Collection
Certificates of Need (C/N), 1976-1982, undated
Scope and Contents
The Certificates of Need (C/N) subseries consists of applications from individuals and already established health care facilities sent to Eastern Kentucky Health Services, Inc. The applications, titled "Certificates of Need," are requests for financial support in opening a healthcare facility, remodeling of a current facility, or efforts towards healthcare licenses. Most of the applications are filed according to a case number. Some of the files contained blueprints of additions to health care facilities.