Practicing Medicine in the Hometown

Many of us growing up had dreams of becoming a doctor, police officer, fireman, or major league baseball player.  My personal dream was to become a lawyer.  I never became a lawyer because I didn’t have the personal drive at the time.  I was busy doing everything but studying and my dreams of passing the bar faded rather quickly as finals approached.  Did the world lose something because I didn’t become a lawyer?  I don’t think so.  I’m glad Dr. Dabney did not take the same path as I did.  My little town would have been the worse for it.

Richlands, NC:  As of 2008, our population was 938 with a median household income of $25,300.  We are rural but growing due to our proximity to Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base located 20 miles away in Jacksonville, NC.  Our nearest hospital is in Jacksonville.

normal_rockwell_doctorWhen I was a kid, we had one doctor servicing the town who was in his seventies.  Respected and a liked by our town, Dr. Mease knew everyone and their history.  He didn’t have to look at a chart.  He didn’t have fancy medical devices.  He was one who was trusted and never turned a patient away.  He was the epitome of the “town doctor”.  When his health started fading and he became too ill he stopped practicing medicine which left a void.

If you didn’t know, news travels like wild fire in a small town.  If you want to know anything at all, go to the barber shop.  That is where I learned that Dr. Dabney came to town.  Not to sound stereotypical, but when we heard a new “doc” was a “she”, I didn’t exactly have a good feeling – I always had male doctors for some reason.

I remember needing to see a doctor one day so I made my first appointment and met her with some reservation.  I can honestly say I very pleased with her professionalism, her staff, and more than that – her caring nature.  She didn’t know me at all.  That was years ago.  Today, our entire family proudly calls her our personal physician. 

She treated my mother-in-law when she was dying of cancer.  As Laura laid in bed under hospice care, Dr. Dabney would stop by two to three times a week to “check on her”.  Her visits were uplifting to Laura and meant so much to our family.   She wasn’t playing favorites by visiting us or trying to drum up business.  She was simply living up to her oath and making a dying woman’s last days better.

She’s caring.  I’ve observed her in the local Piggly Wiggly deli greeting patrons and holding “office hours on the go” often instructing them to come in for an appointment because she detected a change in their health.  Dr. Dabney doesn’t practice medicine – she improves lives through medicine as best she can.

Don’t be misled by my positive comments.  She can be assertive too – but for you own good.  My brother has been a long-time patient as well.  It seems she told him to lose a certain amount of weight by his next appointment and to undergo some lifestyle changes.  When he showed up with no positive results, she told him to stop coming to her and wasting his money if he wasn’t going to adhere to her treatment plans. That got his attention more than our nagging him. 

The next time he showed up for an appointment, he made the mistake of telling her his chest was hurting.  She excused herself for a moment and returned to the examining room a short time later.  “Where are your keys?” she asked.  Brother promptly gave them to her.  “You’re going to the emergency room by ambulance.  It will be here in a minute.”  She knew better than to give brother any opportunity of leaving.  Today, I remember that story and laugh.  At the time, she could have saved his life.

I would assume that being a physician is hard – more so in a small town.  A certain amount of personal sacrifice is to be expected and endured.  Patients have high expectations of immediate cures.  Everyone expects to know the exact cause of their malady.  The simple act of walking through the bank, convenience store, or any place and being stopping for free medical advice is probably an everyday occurrence.  Can you imagine having to deal with all of us who have diagnosed our ills by comparing our symptoms to Aunt June’s 10 years ago? When these things happen, she gives everyone the same professional, personal attention regardless of her schedule or time of day.  The patient is the focus in the examining room and not maintaining a time table.  All of these things make her special, respected, and our “home town doc”.

I can’t help but think that our little town would have been different without Dr. Dabney to some degree.  Sure, another doctor would have come if fate hadn’t stepped in to place her here.  But would they have ”fit in”as well as she does?  Would they have assumed the same prominent position as the “home town doc” vacated by Dr. Mease?  Knowing the impact we have on someone’s life is difficult at times.  Knowing what might have been is impossible.

Thank you Dr. Dabney.

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