WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) met today with Donald Givens, Director of the Coal Miners Clinic at Owensboro Health Muhlenberg Community Hospital (OHMCH) in his office in the United States Capitol. OHMCH is located in Greenville, Kentucky.
Senator McConnell has worked for years to help deliver federal funding to the OHMCH. In 2017, McConnell helped OHMCH secure a $658,427 competitive federal grant to continue providing health screenings for Kentucky miners and to purchase new equipment for its Coal Miners Clinic. In 2014, Senator McConnell also assisted them in securing funding, which allowed its Coal Miner’s Respiratory Clinic to remain open so that Western Kentucky’s coal miners would continue receiving care at the facility.
“Kentucky’s coal communities have powered our nation for generations, and I’m proud to support our miners, retirees and their families,” said Senator McConnell. “A black lung screening, like those offered at Owensboro Muhlenberg Community Hospital, can be potentially life-saving. When the clinic needed help to keep its doors open, I joined their cause and helped deliver the funding necessary to continue this crucial work. I was grateful to receive an update on the clinic’s work, and I look forward to continuing to help them serve their community and to support coal families in the Commonwealth.”
“We are grateful for Senator McConnell’s help to secure hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grant funds to support our work providing black lung testing to Western Kentucky coal miners,” said Donald Givens, Director of the Coal Miners Clinic at Owensboro Muhlenberg Community Hospital. “These screenings are necessary for miners as they apply for government-funded black lung benefits. Senator McConnell’s assistance has been vital to help us get more miners the medical treatment they need. We’re glad to have the Senate Majority Leader looking out for Kentucky and coming through for us when we need it most.”
In the Fiscal Year 2020 government-funding bill, signed into law by President Trump in December, Senator McConnell secured a provision to protect pension benefits for coal miners and their families. These actions secured the pensions of 92,000 coal miners and protected health care benefits for 13,000 miners. In 2017, Senator McConnell also mobilized Congress to permanently secure health care benefits for thousands of retired miners. Had Congress not acted, approximately 3,000 Kentucky coal miner retirees – and tens of thousands more around the country – would have lost their health care benefits.
