photo+roll: “Country Doctor,” LIFE, June 1998

By Laura Smith, Photo Archivist

This post is part of a new blog series, photo+roll, featuring photographs from the Documentary Photography Archive.

Today, November 16th, is National Rural Health Day which celebrates and brings awareness to rural health care providers and their impact on communities. According to the National Rural Health Association, “The patient-to-primary care physician ratio in rural areas is only 39.8 physicians per 100,000 people, compared to 53.3 physicians per 100,000 in urban areas.” (1)

The Lynn Johnson Collection contains photographs which document the work – or, rather, work-life balance – of Dr. David Loxterkamp who practiced rural medicine in Belfast, Maine (at the time the photographs were taken in 1998, Belfast’s population was approximately 6,500). (2)

Dr. David Loxterkamp sees a patient in his office, 1998

In 1997, Loxterkamp published “A Measure of My Days: The Journal of a Country Doctor,” which gave readers a look into his work and life as it occurred five years earlier in 1992. In early 1998, photojournalist Lynn Johnson was sent on assignment by LIFE magazine to document Loxterkamp for a feature story titled “Country Doctor.” *

Dr. David Loxterkamp examines a woman about to give birth, 1998

Johnson’s photographs provide visual glimpses into Loxterkamp’s life, rural health care, and the Belfast, Maine community – albeit nearly six years after Loxterkamp first wrote his journal entries – as he met with patients of all ages in his office, at their homes, in nursing homes, or at the local hospital.

Dr. David Loxterkamp meets with patient Phil Spaulding in Spaulding’s home, 1998

A toddler leans into his caregiver while looking skeptically at Dr. Loxterkamp, 1998

Dr. David Loxterkamp checks the throat of a patient in a nursing home, 1998

The images also show Loxterkamp at home juggling life as a doctor and a parent: from taking evening phone calls from patients while his family eats supper to comforting his sick son in the morning before heading to work.

Dr. David Loxterkamp, at home, takes a phone call from a patient, 1998

Dr. David Loxterkamp kneels to embrace his three year old son, John, 1998

Despite the numerous published images of Loxterkamp’s work and life in the “Country Doctor” article (35 to be exact!), they are only a fraction of the hundreds of images taken by Johnson. In the Lynn Johnson Collection, more of the story can be seen though contact sheets made from the original negatives. For example, in the following contact sheet for roll LJ021798-PP, sequential images show Loxterkamp on his morning run, as he tries to help his wife, Lindsay, coax their son into taking cold medicine, and while getting ready for work. In the last nine frames shot on that roll, he is at the office working on paperwork, making calls, and preparing with a nurse for the day ahead.

Country Doctor: Roll LJ021798-PP

In his journal, Dr. Loxterkamp reflected on how he prepared for his busy days, giving himself the mindfulness to be a better doctor for his patients:

“I am thankful for my two morning hours and for the occasional long run or drive in the country. These snatches of calm, spliced into a relentless schedule, are my bread and wine. They require only a space where I sit and listen and let the possibilities come. They take but a moment. And bringing solace to the doctor, they solace the patient too, who seeks quiet attention in the midst of the storm,” p. 37. (4)

Dr. David Loxterkamp sees a patient in his office – view of Loxterkamp’s shoes and the patient’s shoes, 1998

* For a bit of additional photo history: LIFE’s 1998 “Country Doctor” story on Dr. Loxterkamp was a nod to the 50th anniversary of photographer W. Eugene Smith’s 1948 photo essay of the same name. Smith’s “Country Doctor” documented the day-to-day work of Dr. Ernest Ceriani in Kremmling, Colorado (view Smith’s “Country Doctor” in the Internet Archive). Loxterkamp reflected frequently in his journal on Smith’s photo essay and Dr. Ceriani’s work. In particular, Loxterkamp wrote, “…We are nearing the fiftieth anniversary of Doc Ceriani’s arrival in Kremmling (1947) and the publication of Smith’s famous photo essay (1948). Perhaps the jubilee might spark some discussion of his legacy, without nostalgia or a rush to judgement. Have we, the heirs of general practice, identified the enemy, heeded the warnings, changed or adjusted to the harsh conditions?…Ernest Ceriani and Gene Smith were strong men of enormous talent, fighting a changing enemy as well as the demons within. What can we say about them, finally, in fairness, and gratitude, and love for their labor?”, p. 211. (3)