‘Country Doctor’ Trailer – Dr. James Graham Struggles to Save a Rural Oklahoma Hospital in HBO Documentary

Across rural America, hospitals are closing. The documentary short film Country Doctor follows Dr. James Graham and his struggle to save a rural Oklahoma hospital.

Featured in the documentary are Dr. James Graham, Darlene Graham, the staff of Fairfax Community Hospital, Joe and Carol Conner, publisher and editor The Fairfax Chief, and Dr. Elizabeth Pusey, MD.

Directed by Emmy-winning filmmakers Shari Cookson and Nick Doob (HBO’s “Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life & Times of Katrina Gilbert”), the documentary played at numerous film festivals including Indy Shorts International Film Festival and Woodstock Film Festival.

It debuts Tuesday, October 28 (7:00-7:38 p.m. ET/PT) on HBO.

Here is the synopsis: Since 2010, over 140 hospitals in rural America have closed, leaving just one doctor for every 2,500 people. Filmed over three years in intimate cinéma vérité style, Country Doctor follows Dr. James Graham in Fairfax, Oklahoma (population 1,263), who has spent over 40 years dispatching medicine, comfort, and wisdom to his patients. As Fairfax Community Hospital files for bankruptcy, Dr. Graham and his team fight to provide adequate healthcare for their community. Amid staff shortages and uncertainty for the future, a new buyer for the hospital provides a cautious beacon of hope.

With a severe lack of medical facilities in rural communities, Dr. Graham takes on multiple roles, dividing his time between Fairfax Hospital, a nursing home, and three clinics, one of which is 60 miles away and serves four counties. In addition, he makes house calls, treating an often poor and uninsured population. Having known some of his patients for their whole lives, he provides an essential, human lifeline to care, even traveling to the Oklahoma State Capitol to lobby for more governmental assistance. The film also features the publisher and editor of the local Fairfax newspaper, who investigates the motives of the hospital’s new owner.

Fairfax is a microcosm of a larger national crisis: vulnerable, rural hospitals are under-resourced, at risk of closure and facing a severe shortage of doctors. Country Doctor captures that crisis with clear-eyed compassion, and positions Dr. Graham’s story as a powerful lens through which to understand both the fragility and the fierce resilience of rural healthcare.

Watch the official trailer for Country Doctor above.