Cindy Rowe planned to be induced in Pueblo on Feb. 26, but she went into labor two days earlier. Her contractions started at four minutes apart, but when she called Mount San Rafael Hospital, she was told to go elsewhere. My husband wasn't going to deliver. She went to Mount San Rafael, and within two hours, baby Kyle was delivered by Dr. Douglas McFarland, a family practitioner who can deliver babies naturally but not by Caesarean section. Unless it's an emergency, though, mothers have to go elsewhere because it's too risky.
Many young doctors move to small towns, gain experience and then leave.
Not even Dr. Sally Fabec, a Trinidad native, planned on making a career in Trinidad. But she's been there for 24 years and says she couldn't leave the people once she got to know them. That's not to say the job hasn't been stressful. There would be times when I'd hope that I wouldn't get called. I'd actually say a prayer.