All ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIPS: General practice doctors say they take pride in being able to care for their extended family

Mayor Jim Nabors, center, cuts the ribbon to Total Healthcare as doctors Adams, Hinkle, Edwards, and Vines look on. (Cliff Williams / The Outlook)

Television shows often glamourize the medical specialities. They show a cardiologist performing open heart surgery or a neurosurgeon removing part of a skull.

While those are needed medical specialities, much care can be given by family practitioners in a rural setting. For the doctors at Total Healthcare, they take pride in knowing they can help most patients with most of their ailments, but for them, practicing medicine is only the beginning of what keeps them in a rural setting. It’s the relationships that bring them the biggest reward.

Cliff Williams is a staff writer for Tallapoosa Publishers.