PENN, Pa. — Many residents of a small Westmoreland County borough don't know of a special benefit available to them — free hospitalization — thanks to the largess of a physician's daughter who set up a trust fund in her will.

Since the 1970s, anyone who has lived in Penn Borough for a year and a day can tap into the Edith McKee Fund to pay for hospital bills.

"It's the best-kept secret in town," said Debra Redding, who sells real estate and plans to advertise the fund to market a house in town.

When Edith McKee died in 1970 at the age of 93, she left most of her $222,528 estate in a trust fund to help Penn's residents.

McKee's father, Joseph, tended to the families of coal miners and factory workers in the early 1900s in the borough, about 25 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

The mines and factory jobs are long gone and the median income for Penn's 187 households is less than $36,000. The borough's annual budget is about $130,000.

The McKee fund has grown to about $1 million and interest can be used to pay bills at Mercy Jeannette and Excela Health Westmoreland hospitals. Patients with hospitalization insurance must first exhaust those benefits before tapping into the fund.

"It's priceless for those who need it," said Helen Nelson, 76, who used the fund when her son was kicked in the face by a horse when he was 9.

Mildred Downing used the fund in 2002 when her insurer would not pay for an extra day she needed at Jeannette Hospital's critical care unit.

The McKee fund also prompted more philanthropy.

The Shirley T. Brown Trust was established in the 1990s to help Penn residents who are blind or born prematurely and in need of medical help.