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In reverse chronological order:
2008 – David Watson
Yoakum, Texas. Population: 6,000.
Dr. Watson arrived in Yoakum immediately out of medical training and began the multifarious tasks of a country doctor: family physician, surgeon, obstetrician and (unofficial) psychiatrist. The 78-year-old Dr. Watson continues to provide all these services, except obstetrics, seeing 20 to 30 patients a day in his office, rounding on patients in the hospital and the nursing home, and mixing in the occasional house call.
2007 - Hiram T. Ward
Murfreesboro, Arkansas. Population: 1,668.
When the only hospital in the county was faced with imminent closure due to a lack of physicians, 81-year-old Dr. Hiram Ward volunteered to come out of retirement to provide medical coverage for the hospital seven days a week, 24 hours a day.
2006 - David Nichols
White Stone, Virginia. Population: 600.
Twenty-seven years ago, David Nichols, M.D., made a promise to provide healthcare services to the 600 residents of tiny Tangier Island, an isolated community located in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. True to his word, Dr. Nichols has been flying to the island ever since, providing care to the remote population.
During his days on the island, Dr. Nichols treats everything from cuts and bruises to respiratory failure. He is literally a life-saver to the islanders who have embraced him as a care-giver, confidant and friend.
When not flying to Tangier Island in his own helicopter, Dr. Nichols runs a thriving family practice in White Stone, a one-stoplight town in eastern Virginia. Before building his practice, Dr. Nichols was the only physician in town, and he continues to serve as the mainstay of primary care in the community.
2005 - Katrina Poe
Kilmichael, Mississippi. Population: 900.
Dr. Poe returned to her hometown after completing her medical training at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, a city roughly 80 miles south of Kilmichael. Poe's return to the community came at a critical time, when the town was about to lose its only physician.
In 2001, Poe opened a clinic, where she now sees 250 to 300 patients per week. On call night and day, she also makes hospital rounds and house calls, serves as the medical director for the local nursing home and monitors residents of the community's home for mentally challenged youth.
2004 - Kenneth Paul Mauterer
Olla, Louisiana. Population: 1,370.
LaSalle High School in tiny Olla, Louisiana, was to have been the site where Kenneth Paul Mauterer, M.D., received recognition as 2004's Country Doctor of the Year. Nature, however, had other plans. The auditorium of the high school, which is Dr. Mauterer's alma mater, was partially destroyed by a tornado that struck the town Nov. 23, sending 25 people to the hospital, damaging more than 50 homes and killing an 89-year-old woman Dr. Mauterer had known all his life.
While the twister caused the award ceremony to be postponed to Feb. 4, 2005, it also underscored why Dr. Mauterer was selected for the national award, which is presented by Staff Care, Inc., a physician staffing firm based in Irving, Texas.
The night the tornado hit, Dr. Mauterer rushed to the home of Audrey Hinton, an elderly neighbor he had known since childhood. Dr. Mauterer pronounced her dead at the scene, but was able to render aid to her 93-year-old husband, who survived. The rest of the night Dr. Mauterer spent riding around the town on a friend's all-terrain vehicle, checking on the welfare of the townsfolk, including his two daughters and baby granddaughter. Then he headed to Olla's 41-bed Hardtner Medical Center to help treat the injured.
2003 - Charles Boyette
Belhaven, North Carolina. Population: 2,000.
Dr. Charles Boyette has been named Country Doctor of the Year for 2003, selected from 139 nominees.
Few can match the 68-year old physician's commitment. He has saved more than 300 homes from flooding, rescued the local hospital from bankruptcy and launched a foundation providing financial aid to more than 100 community college students—all in addition to his work as a doctor . . . and mayor. "He just astonishes me at times," says Albert Baker, another member of the city council. "You can't measure how much he means to this town."
2002 - James Blume
Forest Hill, West Virginia. Population: 75.
Diagnosed with colon cancer late in 2001, Dr. Blume ignored the effects of chemotherapy and kept treating patients at his small-town clinic. The doctor counts more than 7,000 active patients, so the effort was often strenuous. At times he was so weak he leaned against walls for support while working. Yet he also broke ground on an urgent care clinic in a town 14 miles away and volunteered to deliver four sermons a week after a nearby church lost its pastor. While in the hospital for care himself, he jumped up to treat an emergency patient—one of several incidents during the year when he rushed to someone’s aid. Despite a malpractice crisis that drove more than 100 other physicians from the state in 2002, Dr. Blume chose to sell a bit of property in order to cover rising insurance premiums. Locals expect this kind of dedication from the young doctor. He has taken only one brief vacation in 11 years.
2001 - Kamlesh Gosai
Bentleyville, Pennsylvania. Population: 2,700.
The town tried for several years to recruit a physician—without success.
They offered a new building and rent-free office space. Five doctors turned
down generous offers from Bentleyville. But when Dr. Gosai set up shop in 1988,
he refused incentives. He simply went to work. Starting with one patient on
his second day of practice, Dr. Gosai now treats more than 300 each week and
carries an active patient load of 10,000, treating everyone regardless of
their ability to pay. Area residents also credit him with saving a dying town.
He recruited six other doctors into the area, built a medical center in nearby
Charleroi, developed a state-of-the-art medical laboratory and MRI facility,
pushed the creation of an industrial part and built a hotel along the interstate that has attracted several restaurants and service stations. In his spare
time he squeezes in visits to 21 nursing and personal care homes and makes hospital rounds.
2000 - Howard Clark
Morton, Mississippi. Population: 4,000.
At age 73 Dr. Clark still worked more than 90 hours each week, covering his
clinic practice, the hospital emergency room, the nursing home and house
calls. He was largely responsible for reopening the county hospital and once
covered the ER for 23 consecutive days—at no charge. Dr. Clark routinely
treated all patients, regardless of their ability to pay. His commitment to
the youth of Morton included a college scholarship fund and full support for
any high school student wishing to tour the Mississippi State University
campus. He did not miss a high school football game between 1956 and 2000.
In the year 2000, Dr. Clark purchased a mobile MRI unit and a mobile CT scan
unit to further extend healthcare throughout the county.
1999 - Paul F. Maddox
Campton, Kentucky. Population: 525.
This physician treated more than 1.5 million patients during his 47-year career.
For much of that time he was the only doctor serving an entire county,
treating many patients free of charge. Dr. Maddox kept his clinic open 24
hours a day, 365 days a year for two decades—while serving as the town
mayor, dedicating funding for a new library, providing healthcare service
for two orphanages (free of charge) and supporting the town in whatever
capacity possible. He continued to practice at age 74 after being diagnosed
with cancer, scheduling patients around daily chemotherapy.
1998 - Elton D. Lehman
Mount Eaton, Ohio. Population: 250.
For 34 years Dr. Lehman brought modern medicine to the Amish community of
Stark County, while also serving as the town's mayor. The free-standing
birthing center he helped create offered an alternative to home-births for
Amish women.
1997 - William Hill
Carrollton, Alabama. Population: 1,170.
"Dr. William" served as a solo physician in Carrollton for more than 50 years,
carrying on a family tradition. Hill family physicians served Carrollton
continuously since before the Civil War.
1996 - Claire Louise Caudill
Morehead, Kentucky. Population: 8,357.
Known as the "Mother of Rowan County," Dr. Caudill delivered mroe than 8,000
babies in her home town during a 50-year career. St. Claire Hospital in
Morehead was named in her honor.
1995 - John Harlan Haynes
Vivian, Louisiana. Population: 4,156.
Described by patients as a cross between Marcus Welby and Daniel Boone, Dr.
Haynes practiced in this rural community for 30 years. He single-handedly
kept the local hospital open.
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