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 him.
The 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,...