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Until Dr. Duncan Chalmers moved into town last November, Benton City, Wash. (pop. 1,200) had not had its own resident doctor for 24 years. After he had been there only a short while, the people in Benton City and the surrounding territory (including the fast-growing towns of Richland, Kennewick and Pasco) wondered how they had ever got along without...
...seemingly tireless Chalmers was soon seeing 60 patients a day in his clinic and also doing a daily stint of surgery at the hospital in Prosser, 15 miles away. He started a medical program at Benton City's two schools, and somehow, between his office hours and his daily commuting, found time to make a good number of house calls. A soft-spoken but decisive man who had just finished five years of public-health work in Alaska, Chalmers made friends quickly. Said one businessman: "He's that rare type who worries more about his patients than about...
Unfortunately, the businessman was too correct for comfort. Early last month, Chalmers, 46, called on Contractor Richard Cecil, a moving spirit in Benton City's clinic guild, and told him that the clinic was going broke. Reason: his patients paid their bills slowly, and Chalmers' long working days gave him no time for sending out reminders. Although he averaged $3,200 a month on paper, his patients were actually paying him only $1,200, some $1,000 less than he needed to meet his expenses...
Cecil quickly called a public meeting in Benton City and asked for $3,500, to help the doctor pay off his debts. At the first meeting, he raised over $600. Later meetings and a benefit supper got the total up to $1,200. Meanwhile, patients began to send in their checks−so well, at first, that Dr. Chalmers was able to pay back a $400 loan the clinic guild had given...
...straighten out matters for the future, Chalmers has proposed that the people of Benton City and the surrounding towns equip a small, six-bed hospital-clinic. Chalmers will then rent the hospital, get another doctor to join him. He hopes to assure the hospital of some funds by qualifying it as a treatment center for industrial-hospitalization plans. An added proviso: the town will take over Dr. Chalmers' bookkeeping...