American i^Multurist, April 21,1923 
357 
Wanted! A Resident Country Physician 
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Good Roads, Prompt Pay and Appreciation Will Keep the Doctors 
B eing country bred, and with nursing 
ability, I frankly admit that the life 
I of the average country doctor is any- 
' thing but one '‘grand sweet song.” 
Although, I venture to say, the extent of his 
popularity and success depend largely—if 
not entirely—on the character and person¬ 
ality of the man who bears the title of M. D. 
As in every line of business, there are many 
types and classes. Too many of our present 
day doctors are too “classey,” too scientific 
and unadapted to country life and people, 
and enter the profession merely from a cold 
business point of view. Seldom do we find 
one of so rare a combination of professional 
skill, refinement and kindly sympathy and 
friendliness toward all with whom he comes 
in contact. 
There are however, many discouraging 
problems, many demands under which the 
country practitioner is expected to labor. 
Bad roads, together with financial difficulties 
not only seriously handicap, but oftimes pre¬ 
vent him from doing all he might be capable 
of. Yet this friend to humanity must never 
complain, never be sick or need a vacation, 
but always on tap to serve an inconsiderate 
public, with but few exceptions. 
Then, too, one must remember that the at¬ 
titude of the patient plays a most important 
part. When your condition necessitates the 
calling of the doctor, say to yourself, “I am 
going to get well!” Play the game fair and 
take up the task on a cooperative basis, with 
all confidence in your physician. Last, but 
not least, pay him promptly and cheerfully 
and never by word or action convey the im¬ 
pression that he is just a necessary evil. But 
rather, encourage and send him from your 
bedside with a hope in his heart and the 
pleasure and reward will be yours.—MRS. 
Robert F. Weeks, Babylon,N. Y. 
We Need a Resident Physician and 
a Community Nurse 
T he country district needs a resident 
physician. Few country districts have 
them. There is something terrorizing about 
being sick in the country in winter, for one 
is so uncertain about obtaining a doctor. The 
city physician as a rule keeps only cars and 
they are very loath to come into the country 
in bad winter weather. 
We live within five miles of a city of 31,000 
population and there are many doctors prac¬ 
ticing there. In summer we can get a doctor, 
but in winter we never know whether we 
can or not. We are unfortunate in having 
been sick a great deal, probably we realize 
the acute shortage of country doctors more 
than normal, healthy families. We keep our 
telephone chiefly for use in calling a doctor 
in case of illness, but it wouldn’t avail us 
much in the midst of winter. I know many 
people in poor health who have been obliged 
to stay in town during the winter to assure 
medical treatment. 
If every rural district had a doctor it would 
banish one of the very worst disadvantages 
of living in the country. The country dis¬ 
tricts want first-class physicians of the same 
high type of training of which the city phy¬ 
sician boasts. If we can obtain a high type 
of medical man we will pay them the same 
^^8 we pay our city doctors and we won’t be¬ 
grudge the money either. We don’t expect 
something for nothing. 
There is much demand for medical service 
m the country. There would be greater de¬ 
mand if it could be fulfilled. Surely it seems 
as if a country doctor could make as good 
a living as a city physician. There would be 
a broad field open in the country in connec¬ 
tion with medical inspection for our schools. 
By OUR READERS 
We want and need it the same as the city 
schools. This means another source of reve¬ 
nue for the doctor. A public health nurse 
could be provided to work in cooperation 
with the doctor and thus make his work 
easier. 
It would be a splendid thing if every com¬ 
munity had its own hospital. Many small 
villages are beginning to realize this need 
and supply it. Why not the country district? 
Many people have a prejudice against going 
to our city hospital. If they had one nearer 
home, in the management of which they 
were interested and which they felt was really 
their own, they would feel much differently. 
A hospital in the section where he practiced 
T ell the Doctor if he’s helped you, 
Let him hear your praises now. 
Do not wait till hands are folded 
And like marble is his brow. 
Give your sunshine to the living 
Not alone in words, but deed, 
Prove yourself a friend in trouble, 
Help and cheer in time of need. 
Give your sunshine to the lonely, 
Scatter blossoms ’long the way. 
And your life will be the brighter. 
Pure and sweet in every way. 
— Mrs. Robert F. Weeks, Babylon, N. Y. 
would greatly facilitate the work of the doc¬ 
tor. There is no reason why a country 
doctor may not keep up-to-date and have the 
benefit of association with his city brothers 
in the profession. 
A great many things can be done to aid 
the country doctor as I have pointed out. 
The financial gains should be ample to satisfy 
a doctor and the country public could coop¬ 
erate with him to make his work easier. 
Finally a resident country physician can ful¬ 
fill a great humanitarian mission to the farm¬ 
ers because of the isolation of the country 
districts. —S. Gwendolyn Spink, Water- 
town, N. Y. _ / 
Build Decent Roads 
HEN you asked how to hold the country 
doctor, I asked myself “What are coun¬ 
try doctors made of.” And I thought, they 
are born or else brought up from the cradle 
under the motto “all that I am and all that 
I have, I give freely to my fellovunan,” or 
sometimes he has had a true vision of the 
Christ. They are the most unselfish of men 
as well as the most courageous. Then all we 
have to do to hold them is to build decent ■ 
roads for them to travel on and they’ll come 
at any hour of the day or night, regardless 
of weather. Doctors are generally like this, 
but occasionally in the city,you’ll find one 
more like a politician than anything else. 
He can’t afford to run the risk of sprain¬ 
ing his horse’s legs or breaking his buggy 
or wrecking his machine, for maybe he has • 
a family and can’t afford to be extravagant 
or reckless. Besides, he doesn’t want to have 
a lame horse or repaired vehicle any more 
than we do. 
Then when he names his price, pay him 
cheerfully, or promise to if you haven’t it 
at hand and after that when you meet him 
or hear his name mentioned, feel in your 
heart that you still owe him—that money 
cannot pay the debt. 
Don’t think because he’s so jolly and genial 
that he hasn’t an ache or a pain. He may 
have a headache that nothing but sleep and 
rest can cure rightly or his body may be 
dead tired and achey because of long hours 
and irregular meals. So make everything 
as easy for him as possible and as pleasant, 
for he may have troubles, too, and just puts 
on that happy look to help you. —Mrs. Wal¬ 
lace D. Swisher, Newark, Ohio. 
Should We Subsidize the Doctor.^ 
M y message is from a hill country, hills 
that are almost young mountains where 
the snow drifts deep in winter and stays late 
in the spring. The roads follow the least 
drifted places through meadows, across 
fields or through woods. 
Our middle-aged doctor, who is all that 
Mrs. Roberts in her article in your paper said 
a good doctor is, often remarks: “If folks 
would only open the roads.” That would be 
one great attraction at least in winter. The 
summer roads are not to be dreaded. 
If there could be a certain surh set aside 
by each locality, a sort of salary, paid weekly 
or monthly under the head of the Health 
officers’ pay, the young doctor would have 
something to tide him over the lean times, 
until he could build up a practice. Young 
men leaving medical college often are in debt, 
for money they borrowed to help them 
through the last of their course. That same 
course costs with economy $5,000. 
In rural sections they must furnish their 
own medicines as it is often many miles to 
an apothecary. A prompt payment for office 
or house calls is an attention much appreci¬ 
ated, so often neglected. If we would answer 
the doctor’s questions frankly, thus aiding in 
a rapid and thorough diagnosis and not ex¬ 
pect the service to be of a mind-reader as 
well as of a thermometer and disease aiding 
in our rapid recovery, it would be another 
encouragement. 
What pleasure we can give our doctors if 
they can feel they are heartily welcomed in 
our homes, with the same respect we give 
our ministers, lawyers or teachers, or any 
cultured person. They must deal with moral 
wrecks as well as the pure minded and treat 
all fairly. How easy it is to start a scandal 
that has disgraced more than one innocent 
doctor, and burden his mind so that some 
have thrown up a growing practice to put 
miles between them and the pain of bearing 
a ruined character thrust on him, by the 
ignorance of depraved minds that hold little 
good. 
Don’t be stingy of the thanks and praise, 
show a full appreciation of our medical aid. 
Heartfelt thanks make bright spots in any 
one’s life, especially a hard-worked doctor 
whom it is so easy to blame for faults that 
are generally our own.—W inifred W. 
Shore, Oxford, Chenango County, N. Y. 
Thinks a Country Nurse Would Help 
OU'have asked for practical suggestions 
concerning the country doctor. Years 
ago all the small country towns and even 
hamlets had a resident doctor. If the young 
doctors are not locating in these places at 
present, it goes to prove that something 
must be wrong with the people that go to 
make up our population in the rural dis¬ 
tricts. 
First the condition of our roads have some¬ 
thing to do with the young doctor locating 
in the city where he can run that new car 
of his over paved streets instead of our al¬ 
most impassable country roads. I know 
some one will say that we are spending mil¬ 
lions of dollars to build pavpd roads in the 
country. I think this is as it should be for 
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