“I’ve learned from being poor. I’ve learned from being hungry. I’ve had two kidney transplants and been as sick as a lot of the patients I’ve taken care of,” says Dr. James Graham.

Dr. Graham had a rough start.  He grew up on an Indian reservation with no indoor plumbing and a physically, emotionally and sexually abusive drunken stepfather. But despite his hellish childhood, he learned to administer dialysis to his stricken mom and grew up to become a physician who, for more than 40 years, has cared ardently for the more than 1,260 far-flung residents of rural Fairfax, Oklahoma.  For some of those predominantly poor and uninsured residents, he has been their life support and the only doctor they have ever known.

The life and death challenges that Dr. Graham faces daily are daunting.  His attempts to save not only his patients but the failing medical facilities that serve them are the focus of the new cinema vérité documentary short, Country Doctor, directed by Emmy^®-winning filmmakers Shari Cookson and Nick Doob.  Country Doctor debuts on HBO tonight, Tuesday, October 28, 2025, 7:00 – 7:38 p.m. ET/PT. (Check listings for repeat screenings on HBO in the days and weeks ahead, availability on HBO On Demand and HBO Max for streaming.)

Filmed over a period of three years, Country Doctor is a timely, 11th hour reminder of how and why healthcare in rural America has fallen through the cracks.  Hard fact:  “Since 2010, over 140 hospitals in rural America have closed, leaving just one doctor for every 2,500 people.”  Country Doctor shows us exactly what that reality has meant to caring medical practitioners like Dr. Graham and his colleagues, who try to do their best for their patients with very little. It is unimaginable to contemplate the fallout from the planned Federal cutbacks that will grow the rolls of uninsured patients and open the door to more rural hospital and clinic closures.

Dr. James Graham travels far and wide on a daily basis to treat his patients in rural Fairfax, Oklahoma. Photo courtesy HBO.

Within the wide-ranging rural communities that he services, Dr. Graham continues to fill many demanding roles.  He hits the road daily in his truck, treats patients in their homes, at Fairfax Community Hospital, a nursing home and three clinics, one of which is 60 miles away and serves four counties.  He also regularly travels to the Oklahoma state Capitol to lobby for more government assistance.  Often, Dr. Graham’s only remuneration is a box of homegrown tomatoes or a small cache of veggies from his patients’ gardens, which he kindly accepts in lieu of a check or cash.

Fairfax Community Hospital has been on the verge of closure at least 10 times during Dr. Graham’s 40-year career.  Run-down and short staffed, the hospital was ill-equipped to effectively handle the demands brought on by such natural disasters and epidemics as tornadoes and COVID, respectively, both of which took a toll on the region. Country Doctor tracks the most recent Fairfax Community Hospital bankruptcy filing, its auction in North Carolina of all places, and the only bidder and subsequent buyer, Dr. Elizabeth Pusey, M.D., from California.

Dr. Elizabeth Pusey, the new owner of rural Fairfax Community Hospital in Oklahoma, joins local physician Dr. James Graham (right) to inaugurate the hospital’s new and improved infrastructure. Photo courtesy HBO.

Local skeptics, including newspaper publisher and editor, Joe and Carol Conner, fear that Dr. Pusey’s gameplan will play out much like that of other hospital scammers who buy failing rural hospital properties simply to make a quick buck by draining what’s left of their assets–selling off furniture, medical equipment, the building and land–and ditching the carcass within a year or two.

Thankfully, Dr. Pusey proved to be an outlier in that shady underworld, at least during the filming of Country Doctor. Her interest in the hospital’s challenges serving a diffuse, low income rural community seemed legit and hopeful.  She plowed financing into repairing and expanding Fairfax Community Hospital’s infrastructure and scored points when she expressed interest in building ties within the community.

We should all be so fortunate to have physicians like Dr. James Graham.  He is a quintessential wholistic healer, not only dedicated to treating his patients’ physical illnesses but their mental health, emotional well being, and the food and financial insecurity that threatens to derail all of the above.  He talks a longtime patient down from contemplating suicide, delivers nonjudgmental dietary advice and empathetic end-of-life support. Best of all, he makes it clear how much he appreciates each and every one of his patients.  In short, he is resilient, resourceful and, best of all, he truly cares.

And what about the under-resourced hospitals and clinics that rural patients across the nation depend upon? What will happen to communities like Fairfax, Oklahoma, when the Federal cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and Obamacare subsidies kick in?  Country Doctor is a timely eye-opener for anyone who is far removed from the rural healthcare crisis in America or who has been ignoring or blindsided by the machinations in Washington, DC, that will ultimately endanger us all.

Dr. James Graham en route to the Oklahoma State House to lobby for healthcare funding. Photo courtesy HBO.

Now more than ever, Country Doctor deserves to be seen and rescreened. The film debuts on HBO tonight, Tuesday, October 28, 2025, 7:00 – 7:38 p.m. ET/PT. (Check listings for repeat screenings on HBO in the days and weeks ahead, availability on HBO On Demand and HBO Max for streaming.) Country Doctor should spark robust discussion in pre-med and sociology college and university classes and community programs focusing on the healthcare crisis in America today.  I also fervently hope it will encourage some healthcare professionals to contemplate careers in rural America. –Judith Trojan