Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Eastern Kentucky Health Services, Inc. records now on ExploreUK!

In 2014 UK SCRC became a recipient of CLIR funding for processing “Action in Appalachia: Revealing Public Health, Housing, and Community Development Records in the UK Libraries Special Collections ResearchCenter”! This processing project is now in full swing and the first collection, Eastern Kentucky Health Services, Inc. records, has been newly housed, arranged and described by our team of student workers. This collection provides unique documentation for researchers of public health efforts in rural Kentucky.

The Eastern Kentucky Health Services, Inc. records (dated 1975-1983, undated; 47.5 cubic feet; 46 boxes and 7 folders) contain grant applications from Eastern Kentucky health facilities to begin or improve services. EKHS, Inc. began its mission to help increase access to healthcare with a single primary health care clinic in Knott County founded by Kentucky natives, Grady Strumbo and Benny Ray Bailey, in 1972.  Strumbo’s and Bailey’s success acquiring funds for their clinic became a model for the region and led to the EKHS, Inc. grant program. Their initiative considered the unique needs of establishing health care services for rural and often poor Kentuckians unlike other health care financial assistance programs in the nation at the time. EKHS, Inc. assisted numerous health care facilities, from small single bed family care homes to larger medical centers throughout 1970’s and 1980’s. 

The Eastern Kentucky Health Services, Inc. records’ finding aid is now available on ExploreUK

Above: Student workers, Matthew Noe and Ashley Keith, rehousing and creating the inventory of blueprints related to grant applications in the Eastern Kentucky Health Services, Inc. records. Here is the blueprint for a proposed addition to Memorial Hospital in Manchester, Kentucky. 
Above: Image from Manchester, KY; Memorial Hospital; Artist's Conception; Drawing of Memorial Hospital by Watkins, Burrows, and Associates. Part of James Edwin "Ed" Weddle Photographic Collection, 1948-1981.
Memorial Hospital applied for financial assistance from EKHS, Inc. to help expand their facility circa 1979.