Country Doctor (2025)

[bunniefuu]

[birds chirping]

[light, mellow music playing]

[cows mooing]

[gentle, mellow music continues]

[indistinct]

[man] Okay.

We got everything we need?

Okay.

They about halfway got

your heart straightened up.

Yes, sir, they got me tuned up,

and I feel better than I ever

felt when they got done tuning.

[Dr. Graham] Wilber's told me

some of the funniest things

I've ever heard in my life.

- So, he's a pretty witty guy.

- [laughs]

We have a good laugh

once in a while.

That's true. Thank you.

[Dr. Graham] I think that's

looking a whole lot better.

This gentleman was the preacher

of this church for 40 years

and they need a lot of help.

He's gotten demented

and, uh, she's got Parkinson's.

Now just turn around.

I don't see

a whole lot of tremors.

Maybe you're gaining

some strength.

And we still have

physical therapy coming in?

- Yes.

- Okay.

You have all your medications

that you need?

I've got some I'm gonna call in

here in just a little bit.

Pain medicine's like

any other medicine,

if you use it properly.

It's giving you

some quality of life.

- Oh, yes.

- But I wanted to see

what would happen

if some of your side effects...

Neurological side effects might

go away if we cut that back.

So, you'll have to let me know.

If it's not enough,

we can go back to where we were.

Okay. Sounds good.

[Dr. Graham] Okay.

I'll just be tough.

[Dr. Graham]

That's it. Be tough.

I think we've got

everything we can do,

at least at this point.

I'm probably gonna need

some more blood work

somewhere down the road.

George, I think we have...

Hopefully we've got you set up

with a neurologist

sometime this week.

- [George] Yes, the 10th.

- Okay, very good.

I appreciate it.

Good to see you all.

- We love you.

- Love you, too.

- Love you, George.

- Doc. [indistinct]

- Talk to you later.

- Love you.

He's one of the few doctors

that'll make a house call.

[light, mellow music playing]

This guy goes to the doctor

and the nurse goes in and says,

"Hey, Doc, we got a man out here

thinks he's invisible."

He said, "Well, tell him

I can't see him today."

[laughs]

- You gotta laugh at that.

- [both laugh]

Yeah, that's just bad,

but I like telling jokes.

[Dr. Graham] Fairfax is a

little rural town in Oklahoma.

Socioeconomically, it's

a little bit low on the scale.

We've been devastated

by two tornadoes.

Downtown is really torn up.

Hospital almost closed.

Our hospital has been

on the verge of closed

probably ten times

over the last 40 years.

Buyers change,

the people that run it change,

but the people are still sick

and the people that still do

the work don't change.

- Do you have enough food to eat?

- No.

Okay. So, you have to eat

bologna sandwiches

because that's all

you can really afford.

Gotta get off salt.

You gotta lose some weight.

You know, if this doesn't get

better than this,

another ten years, you're

gonna have lots of trouble.

Are you weak, tired,

fatigued, feel bad?

- Yeah, I just wanna die.

- Okay.

I do. I can't stand it, Doc.

I can't do it no more.

You think it's because

of these infective areas

you've had in the past.

The last time I had 'em,

I... when I became septic...

When I became septic last time,

I feel... I feel the same way.

- Okay.

- I just, yeah.

Did you have any temperature?

No temp today?

- Uh-uh.

- Okay.

Yeah, I remember those

you had years ago.

The only thing that seems

to work is, um,

if they put me in hospital

and do IV antibiotics.

And you're certainly gonna need

some help with that.

And you don't have any

medical coverage at all, do you?

- No. No.

- Okay.

- God bless you.

- Thank you.

[Dr. Graham]

She's got these staph sores

pretty much all over.

I think she may be septic.

Would you mind if we went ahead

and sent her out?

And take a look at her and...

And if we... if she needs help,

go ahead and get her sent to

Tulsa or whatever we need to do.

Sure.

[Dr. Graham] While we were

in the hospital today,

I come out, and a patient,

and I'm pretty sure

I know who it is,

they try to pay you

in any way they can.

So, I've got homegrown tomatoes,

okra that looks just fabulous,

corn on the cob...

Squash. How 'bout that?

You know, sometimes stuff like

that's better than money anyway.

And so, it just makes my day.

Darlene and I will get this

pretty soon,

and get it refrigerated.

Those are just beautiful.

Aren't those beautiful?

See, this is his salary

for the month.

[laughs]

[mellow music playing]

[Dr. Graham] I was raised

on an Otoe Indian reservation

in Red Rock, Oklahoma.

We had no indoor facilities.

My stepfather was an alcoholic

who physically, emotionally,

and sexually abused us,

mostly to my sisters.

I am sorry

I was not brave enough

when I was a child

to do something

for the trauma he caused.

While in high school

in Marland, Oklahoma,

my junior year, my mother went

into chronic renal failure,

secondary to

polycystic kidney disease.

The only way

for her to do dialysis

was for one of us children

to go to Oklahoma City

and learn to do dialysis

and to do it in our home.

I was not qualified

by any means,

but she trusted me.

I learned from that.

It made me stronger.

Each one of these things

in life,

the negative things in life,

you gotta take it

and learn from it.

I learned from being poor.

I learned from being hungry.

I've had two kidney transplants

and I've been as sick

as a lot of the patients

I've ever taken care of.

- Hi, Doctor, how are you?

- Good morning.

Good morning, how's everybody?

[patient] Am I behaving myself?

- You're just doing wonderful.

- Well, okay.

We'll hold a little pressure,

put a Neosporin bandage on it.

Be a little sting.

- Not a little sting.

- That wasn't too bad, was it?

- That's a big sting.

- All right, sorry about that.

Take care of yourself.

- Appreciate you.

- All righty.

Nelson, how're you doing?

I'll be here a couple days

and then I'll...

Now, you think

you're gon' be able to handle

both of those prostheses?

Yeah, I'll be able

to get around.

- You will, you think? Good.

- Yeah.

Your hairdresser's doing

an awful good job on you today.

- Oh, yeah, she does.

- That's good. You look good.

You look better than you've

looked in a long time.

[man] He's strong, though.

His upper body's really strong,

so he can use a walker.

I guess we can send him home

with home health.

Is that what we're gonna do?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

How you feeling?

How's your back?

How's your pain?

About nine.

Constantly.

[Dr. Graham] Okay.

And how are we doing with that?

Gritting my teeth and going on.

Do you want to go back over

to see one of the specialists

and get the epidural injections

again?

- No. No, I'm through.

- Nothing like that?

You're just happy to be right

there in Ralston, Oklahoma,

- doing what you do?

- Waiting to die.

- That's what I'm doin'.

- No, you're not.

You're not, you're not thinking

suicide?

Probably not.

- Nah.

- I see the good in you, Everett.

I know the good things

you've done.

I like you.

I mean, you're a likable person.

You gotta just open back up

and try to be yourself.

Don't quit like that.

We're gonna die soon enough.

One thing I know about is

there's going to be pain

and suffering in our lives

and we are all gonna die.

It's a hundred percent.

Make it... as much of it

as you can.

It's a gift God gave you.

Yeah.

[Dr. Graham] Lighten up.

[woman laughs]

I knew I needed to get

you settled down.

Okay, very good.

- I will see you in a month.

- Alright.

- Thank you. You're a good man.

- Bye-bye.

- Make him be good to you.

- I will.

[indistinct chatter]

Good morning.

How's he doing today?

- He's hanging in there.

- He's kind of about the same?

Morning, George.

Good morning.

[Jan] He's getting awfully cold

it seems to me.

[Dr. Graham] He's having

some apneic spells

and it's kind of getting

shallower, isn't he?

[Jan speaking indistinctly]

Still pretty irregular.

I... I appreciate his life.

Certainly, the Lord's gonna be

proud to welcome him home.

[shallow breathing]

[Jan] We've all told him

that it's okay.

We've all told him goodbye.

I love you.

[somber music playing]

[Dr. Graham]

In my last six months,

I've lost four or five patients.

When they die, it just leaves

a little hole in your heart.

[reporter] Rural hospitals

are being exploited

by some healthcare executives.

[reporter 2] A judge in Oklahoma

took away ownership

of Fairfax Community Hospital

from entities owned

by Jorge Perez.

[reporter 3]

Perez has been named

in at least one federal lawsuit

accusing him

of ill*gal billing practices.

[reporter 4] According

to bankruptcy filings,

the hospital is trying

to recover more than $3 million

it claims Perez was wired

fraudulently.

[reporter 5] Court filings

in a case involving

another Perez hospital in Kansas

indicate Perez's companies

are being investigated

by the Department of Justice.

[woman] We started realizing

that things was not going right.

Trying to get orders in, trying

to get meds in that we needed.

And, uh, then when we missed

the paycheck,

uh, that... you know,

we knew it was in trouble.

Townspeople in Fairfax

are doing all they can

to make sure that their hospital

stays open.

Through legal issues

and no paychecks,

these employees just keep

showing up for work.

[woman] The previous company

that had a hold of us,

it took away our...

You know, our ability

to care for these patients,

you know, as...

As best as we could

because of lack of supplies.

Do you guys want supplies,

or do you guys want oxygen?

Vendors were like, "Okay,

I'm so sorry to do this to you,

but we're gonna have

to cut you off."

We had a lot of people

that volunteered their time.

It's really a credit to them.

That's the reason

the hospital is still open,

is these people donated

their time

to continue to keep

the hospital running.

[Dr. Graham] You gotta realize,

most of these people

were not making

very good salary,

and were living

off what they made,

so it's pretty devastating.

[woman] We got

the first paycheck,

then the other one was late

for like three months.

And we finally got another one,

then we didn't get no more

at all.

It just stopped.

The audacity that these people

made her go without pay

for five paychecks

is just atrocious

and it is not right.

[tearfully] I don't even know

if my family would make it

somewhere else if it wasn't

for this hospital being here.

[sniffles]

And so, we just kept

the door open,

knowing that

if we ever close it,

Medicare would... we-we would not

be allowed to reopen.

[somber music playing]

The last two or three years

in Oklahoma,

we've had four or five

rural hospitals close.

In the last five or six years

in-in rural America,

there's been approximately

a hundred close.

We have a crisis

in rural America.

I'll be meeting with the state

legislature this week.

I hope to get to talk to them

about it.

This is an opportunity

as I see it now

that maybe we can get

some recognition all over

about what we're fighting

every day, and we need help.

How are things going in Fairfax?

- Well... a little tough.

- Uh-huh.

Uh, we... uh, it's...

Hospital still in flux?

- Uh, yeah, very much so.

- Okay.

And, you know,

now other hospitals

are involved in Oklahoma.

- It's just a disaster out there.

- Right.

Yeah, let us know if there's

anything that we can do to help.

We'll be glad to do all we can.

Well, sometimes you feel

like you're by yourself and...

We have... we have a lot

of people in this building

that represent

different constituents

around rural Oklahoma,

that this is

a very top priority.

Do you realize out in rural

America and rural Oklahoma,

how many poor, indigent folks

there are?

You know, we're 48th in the

country with health outcomes.

And-and I'm working

right now on a bill

that will cut down

secondhand smoke

in bars and in other places...

Workplaces around the state.

The one bill that you have going

about the Medicare?

Um, there's some issues

that scares us

about the full Medicaid

expansion, you know,

as far as, you know, being

on the string for so much money.

What's the alternative

to this bill?

It's not my ball of wax,

and so I lean heavily on

the experts in that field. So...

We start getting this money

from the federal government,

and then the federal government

goes, "Oh, we're cutting that."

Then it's back

on the... the state

to continue the funding.

But he evidently hasn't studied

the problems we're having

- in rural Oklahoma.

- Right.

Hospitals closing.

Uh, it's just, uh, ridiculous

what we're having to go through

to keep those doors open.

[solemn music playing]

All of us have been concerned

about this bidding process.

Who's gonna bid on the hospital

and what are their motives?

And we've been told by people

who know more about this than us

that there are people who, uh,

look for these kinds

of opportunities to do, uh,

predatory, uh, financing.

I'm just very concerned

that we don't have

what I consider to be

credible bidders.

Um, and I... and I mean

credible, not financially,

but in terms of being concerned

about our community.

And so, if you're not able

to tell me that today,

then I will be at the auction

in, um, North Carolina,

and I probably will want

to at least know then.

Rural Wellness Fairfax, Inc.

And the only information we have

is it's a Dr. Elizabeth Pusey,

out of, um, California.

No other information.

One Cura Wellness, Inc.,

which is First Physicians,

which has shown interest before.

And the Transcendental Union

with Love and Spiritual

Advancement.

Well, hopefully, you know,

we can put some leverage,

keep somebody from just scamming

the place to get money

and closing us down.

- Wish we were in charge of that.

- Well, I know.

Yeah, we wish

we were, too, but...

- We're not in charge of much.

- Yeah.

We're just the repository

of a lot of information

and misinformation.

[both laugh]

[softly] So, this is Miss-chief.

[light music playing]

[Dr. Graham] Hopefully,

by the 19th of December

in the bankruptcy court,

we will have a bidder

that will take us

and maybe we can move on.

If not, then we probably

won't survive.

[Carol] I appreciate your time.

And we will be seeing you.

- [Carol laughs]

- Nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you.

- Thank you.

[Dr. Graham]

And I believe the trustee

is gonna do exactly

what he told me,

and that is, "I may not take

the highest bidder.

I am gonna take the one that

will be best for your community

and best for your hospital."

[man] I understand

that there are 1200

of these rural hospitals

that are on the throes

of going out of business.

We're just in it for, um,

the "F, F, and E"...

Furniture, fixture,

and equipment,

uh, which will allow

these new people coming in

to completely empty

the hospital out.

Uh, we sell to some

of the third-world countries.

They're bidding first

on Fairfax, and so we're...

stressfully waiting

for the next round of bidding.

And it's at $1,600,000.

If this group gets it

and manages us

into these huge losses

and then walks away,

we're closed again.

It is so stressful.

[sighs]

[solemn music playing]

They just made

the, uh, final successful bid

for the Fairfax

Community Hospital,

- and it's, uh, Rural Wellness...

- Fairfax, Inc.

Fairfax, Inc.

And it's to be managed

by First Physicians? Is that...

- Correct.

- That were in the room, also.

So, that's who is the lead horse

right now, and probably will be.

-Subject to...

-Subject to approval

- by the court.

- The court. Exactly.

These are the only people

of all of the people

that we knew were bidding

that never returned

a phone call to us

and that we have

no information about.

I have been told

that there are companies

whose management philosophy is

to bill a great deal

for administration,

to get 60% of that reimbursed

by the federal government,

make all your money on

overbilling for administration,

and then when the government

catches on to your game,

walk away and close the doors.

- [exhales]

- [Joe] Yes, Dr. Graham?

- Yes?

- The auction just wrapped up.

[Dr. Graham]

We got some decent news?

Well, I'm afraid not.

Uh, First Physicians had

the winning bid at 2.1 million.

Oh, really?

And he decided that that

would be the very best for us,

is that right?

Well, I don't know that there

was much deciding about that.

All they went on was high bid.

They said, "Oh, yeah, they're

gonna do right by us" and so on,

-but, you know...

-Oh, okay.

I don't know about that.

Yeah, we're just gonna have

to sit down and, uh,

and talk about it later on

when we have a chance.

- [Carol] Yeah, that's right.

- All right.

Well, we'll-we'll keep in touch.

- Okay, thanks a lot. Take care.

- Uh-huh.

- Bye.

- Bye-bye.

Well, you heard the story.

You're told they're

gonna care about you

and do what the right thing is

for you,

and then base it all on money?

For me, I don't understand.

Uh, I just know the...

the root of all evil

is the love of money.

And, uh, sometimes it's about

getting back to principles.

It's getting back

to being Americans

trying to help each other.

And we just have lost

that thought.

This will be our fourth

management company.

Who knows whether they're people

with good hearts

and like Dr. Graham,

who cares about the community

or people who are

really concerned,

or if they're people making

money on our rural communities,

picking the bones clean,

and walking away?

[solemn music playing]

[man] Yeah, we just, uh...

have to get it ramped up, going.

Mm-hmm.

You have such a viable program,

be nice to have it all

in a more organized place.

Oh, it'll be so nice

to have that.

The local community sometimes

is very suspicious.

They've been burnt in the past.

And, you know, you're coming in

and talking to them

and they're saying,

"Well, no, we wanna continue

to own the hospital."

I'm like, "Well, you know,

I'm looking to buy the hospital,

so, no, you won't own

the hospital anymore.

I would own the hospital.

But to do that,

I'm also going to be taking

and putting investment

into your hospital."

Somehow, I think it's just

the idea of somebody coming in

from outside their community.

But, you know,

the people in their community

haven't been able to figure

this out and solve it.

It's not just enough

to have good intentions.

You've really gotta be able to

make it viable and sustainable.

And for that, you really need

a lot of the business expertise.

[Dr. Graham]

They have begun doing some

of the infrastructure things

that need to be done.

We've just started

the $4.1 million expansion,

and that's how it's progressed

so much.

Well, let's-let's just drive

around the construction

that they're doing here.

[construction vehicle beeping]

That is absolutely amazing.

Is that not amazing?

[gentle music playing]

[woman on speaker]

Mildly ill patients

should be encouraged

to stay home

and contact

their healthcare provider

for guidance regarding testing

and clinical management.

Patients who have

severe symptoms,

such as difficulty breathing,

should seek care immediately.

And older patients

and/or individuals

who have underlying

medical conditions

should contact their physician

early in the course of illness.

- Okay, what's my name?

- [man] Doc Graham.

[Dr. Graham] Okay,

you know where you're at?

- Uh...

- Fairfax Manor.

- Re... rest home?

- Yes!

- Fairfax.

- So far, they're taking

pretty good care of you,

looks to me like.

You had a little pneumonia

going on.

[Darlene] He's been through

two kidney transplants

and his immune system

is suppressed.

We know the risk that he took,

but we had to be there

for these patients.

And, uh...

I support him, I love him,

and I'll be with him

through it all unto the end.

[Dr. Graham] If you can imagine,

gasping for breath

every time you breathe,

and we have nothing to give 'em.

Then... then that's what we're

dealing with with those folks.

Uh, even giving 'em

high volumes of oxygen,

giving 'em all the pain medicine

that we have

and the things for comfort,

it's pretty devastating

to watch 'em die

and not be able to do

anything with it.

[birds chirping]

One time here

in the nursing home,

every patient we had

had the COVID,

and we lost 15.

Yeah.

What a sad time.

I want to talk

about Nelson Johnson,

and I had the pleasure of

taking care of all that family

in their lifetime,

and it was my honor.

You know, he was

a rough-looking character.

In a wheelchair,

bilateral amputations.

He was somebody that was very...

funny, witty,

and he-he would make bad days

be good.

Well, I'm r-real proud that,

before he passed away,

that we did get him

a bottle of Wild Turkey.

[audience laughs]

And so, that was

his biggest wish,

and I debated about it

quite some time and...

and, uh, thankfully, he did.

I got a phone call

from Bartlesville Hospital

that he had passed away.

Just like the rest

of these people,

and Darlene will tell you,

I had to weep a little bit.

I don't know if I can do enough,

but I'll assure you I will spend

the rest of my life

trying to take care

of these folks.

And when they come

through these doors,

they will have compassion

and love that all of us want.

Thank you very much.

[audience applauds]

Anyone have

anything else to say?

A lot of people don't know

that what he had to put up with

in those COVID units.

It's horrible, y'all.

It's hard work

of everybody trying to.

On Christmas, we had to have

the grandkids come outside

and just wave a picture, happy...

You know,

merry Christmas, Grandma,

and all that kind of stuff.

But it kept people's spirits up.

And it's all kinds of things

like that that keep spirits up.

Everybody just love everybody

and do what you can.

I'm gonna put this back on now.

[audience laughs]

Thank y'all for coming.

This was my sister, Carma,

and she's my younger sister.

She left two boys behind

and my mom.

And this is the only memorial

that she got to have

because when she passed,

nobody could come.

Nobody could, you know,

travel states.

And so, I appreciate this.

- God bless y'all. Yeah.

- Love y'all.

God bless y'all.

[tender, solemn music playing]

As far as our hospital,

I mean, it was ready to close.

We had nothing,

couldn't hardly even feed

the patients.

Small town, desolate,

pleading for help.

[Dr. Pusey] It was starting out

from such a low point.

And I think the more we looked,

the more we kept finding

of things that they didn't have.

But once you start

and once you get involved,

then you can't really walk away.

I was in it, you know?

[Dr. Graham] And things got good

very rapidly.

I mean, infrastructure

was redone.

Uh, new roofs, new generators,

new heating and cooling system.

They built the new wing,

all new equipment,

state-of-the-art equipment,

beds that were 25,000 apiece.

And just this week,

they just put in

a brand-new,

64-slice CT scanner.

[indistinct chatter]

We're starting to do MRIs

and some other things,

so it's a...

Kind of a big city hospital

in a small town.

You go from a hospital

with a door just propped open

with a brick

to a nice, new, beautiful,

state-of-the-art facility

that's full.

Be sure I got copies of those,

if you would.

- Yes, sir.

- Going over to the clinic.

Thank you. I appreciate you.

Appreciate you, too, Doc.

See you later.

And let's do one more

where you walk off.

- All right.

- And if you can give me

your best, like, used car

salesman energy on this one.

Hi, I'm Dr. Elizabeth Pusey.

Welcome to Rural Wellness

Fairfax Hospital.

I'm excited to show you

our new wing.

[Joe] Part of their

business plan is to retain

or hire a public relations firm.

And so, their public relations

firm, you know, generates

these, you know, really nice,

po-positive stories

and send 'em out

as press releases.

We're not gonna,

you know, operate

as a public relations firm.

We're a newspaper.

We've always done

everything together.

And it seems like

we're held back.

I'm here to figure out

how we can help do that.

[Joe] We'd be happy to talk to

them if they would talk to us.

[Carol] Well, and...

But there is a caveat.

The idea that only

positive things can be said

is something that no journalist

will agree to.

I wouldn't have done that

for Perez.

I didn't do that for him.

I won't do that for anyone.

Are they gonna leave us

high and dry

like some of the other places,

or all the other places did?

-And so...

-[Joe] We don't know.

We don't know. But I don't know

how they would sink

eight million bucks in a place

and be willing to just pull up

and leave it.

They're almost like

they're afraid

that we're gonna say

something bad about 'em.

[Carol] They are... they...

I think exactly the thing...

Is what they're afraid of.

[Dr. Graham] I don't have

that thought.

I mean, we all, uh, praise

what they've done for us.

If you're doing great things,

why wouldn't you want me

to put that in the newspaper?

They just...

They're very suspicious

and I would look at 'em and say,

"But if it doesn't work out

and something happens

and I ended up having to walk

away, you still have a roof.

You're starting

from a much better point

than you would've been before."

Okay, sister, now try

to get out of bed.

Remember, go slow.

You're not a fast patient,

you're a sick patient.

- [alarm beeps]

- Please don't get up.

The care team has been called.

I'm looking at putting in

a facility

to be able to handle

heavier patients.

I think that... I...

I really think that's so needed,

and I feel so strongly

about that.

Both my mother and my brother

are heavier people.

They'll be able to go in a sling

up to a track system,

all the way to use the restroom.

It can go into the shower

to give that loved one

the dignity,

and that's such

an important thing

that I really wanted

to bring in here.

We know we're far away

and we need to be able

to draw people

because we're doing

something different

or something more or something

that's going to heal them faster

and it's worth coming.

- Right here. This camera.

- [laughter]

Move in a little closer so...

There we go.

- Got it!

- [cheers]

- [indistinct chatter]

- [mellow music playing]

[Dr. Graham] Rural healthcare

in a small town dictates

how well a town does,

and I know at this time,

we've got building projects,

far as housing.

We've got two or three

new businesses going.

We went from 30 employees

to now we have 115

and we're still looking

for medical personnel.

Salaries are the best

they've ever been,

so nothing of it's been

anything but good.

- Have a good trip from L.A.?

- [Dr. Pusey] Yeah, it's nonstop.

[Dr. Graham] We've been lucky

because another physician

bought the hospital,

but not everybody has

a Cinderella story.

Are they in it

for the long haul?

That is our question

based on this information

and our experience

with people who come in

from the outside

and don't take the time

to develop relationships

in the community.

And that's our concern.

I wish them well.

I hope that their business plan,

whatever that is,

does turn out to make it

suitably profitable for them

to stay here

and keep things open

for the benefit

of the community.

I certainly hope

that's the case.

Even I think if you lost 25

or 30 pounds,

you wouldn't need medication.

- You're doing this to yourself.

- Yeah, I know.

You gotta get some

self-discipline, get it done.

[laughs] I know it.

[Dr. Pusey]

Now it's very popular to say

how more traditional healthcare

fits in with the whole person.

But the country doctor

has always done that.

He was holistic

before there was holistic.

[laughs]

He's all in and there

for his patients

and knows them as whole people,

not just someone

that he sees when they're sick.

I bought a pair

of new tennis shoes

from a drug dealer

the other day.

I don't know what

he had 'em laced with,

but I was tripping

all over the place.

[laughs]

You know why the oyster

wouldn't give up the pearl?

- He was shellfish.

- [slight chuckle]

- You have any chest pain?

- Uh-uh.

- Unusual shortness of breath?

- Uh-uh.

Everything else

seems to be good,

except of course the grieving

that you're having.

I was getting over

the depression.

- Okay.

- Because I met, uh,

this lady at Walmart.

I thought we were gonna

hit it off, but...

it didn't happen.

[Dr. Graham] Well, maybe you're

just trying to replace

that hole in your heart

with somebody else

and not ready yet, you know.

- Yeah.

- So, keep lookin' around.

Wake up every day with hope.

I don't know how you hold it out

from the end anyway.

- That's the way to do it.

- Okay.

- I'm not arguing with that.

- [laughs]

[Dr. Graham] I feel like

I've been a positive influence

as much as I could.

And there's nothing more

than I want people to learn

not only from my life,

but the life

of the little hospital

that was about to go under.

But we didn't quit.

[gentle music playing]

If you notice, there's new...

That's a new emergency room sign

that we just got up

the past week.

And, boy, it really shines

at night,

if you ever get a chance

to look at that.

[cheery music playing]