 Cold workers pneumoconiosis or black lung disease is caused by long term exposure to cold dust which is common in coal miners and others who work with coal. Most who might have black lung disease in our area end up traveling long distances to see a doctor since the current law states that only board certified pulmonary specialists can perform exams. I spoke with Governor Andy Beshear, Kentucky House of Representatives member Angie Hatton and CEO of Pipeville Medical Center Donovan Blackburn about House Bill 239 which would allow qualified physicians to perform exams for potential black lung cases. I believe by doing the right thing by addressing this problem and so many others we lead with our values in a way that shows this commonwealth but also this world what amazing people we have right here in eastern Kentucky. So no doctors in the eastern Kentucky coal fields or western Kentucky coal fields currently are qualified to be bee readers and bee reader doctors have their testimony given presumptive weight in black lung hearings and the presumptive weight doctors are the ones who are ruled to be correct. So we need doctors from the coal fields that are easily accessible to miners without traveling all day long and we need the doctors who are doing a great job already to be able to serve their clients in the coal fields. My husband worked 27 years underground before he went to work for the state and I've seen it first hand. I know the sound of a man's lungs turning black. It's nothing that you ever want to have to see or hear. It's a terrible way to die. It's a painful way to die. There is no cure. There's lung transplants which a lot of them aren't qualified for and I'm tired of seeing people that I love wait so long for hearing that they pass away before they ever get their benefits. Well, listen, our coal miners helped build not only this community in our state but this country. They powered this nation for so many years. In Kentucky they provided us the low cost energy that helped us bring in so many of our employers that are now our largest anchor employers all across the state and everybody should be treated fairly when they work hard. And for our coal miners all too often that hasn't happened. Whether it was our black jewel or other miners that weren't paid for work that they did or whether it is those suffering from black lung that have to drive to Louisville or Lexington just to see a specific doctor, that's wrong. It's time we stand up for our people and unfortunately our coal miners have been almost under attack. It's time we changed that. Well, you know one of the things that PMC did last year or about a year and a half ago was really invest more into our black lung clinic. So having the ability of doing the initial assessment and keeping people in the area, you know again these are our miners. These are the people that build our country. There are uncles or our fathers or our brothers or sisters or daughters and our mothers that went back into the abyss to really help not only again build this region but build this country. The very least that we can do with them is to accommodate them in a way that makes healthcare accessible to make the assessment accessible. So I applaud Angie and Representative Hatten on her initiative and the governor's support and all the legislators on both sides of the aisle because this isn't an R or D issue. This is an issue for Kentuckians that we need to look at and to address. So we're certainly proud to do our part as a hospital offering those services. But likewise we need to make sure that we're doing all we can to protect and to take care of our coal miners. It's a financial burden. It's a time burden and there's no reason for it. We have perfectly good world-class physicians in the coal fields.