When Dr. Vance Lassey arrived in Holton, Kansas, eight years ago, the "patient" most in need of care was the hospital itself.

"They told us Holton Community Hospital was on the ropes and only had enough money for a couple of weeks," Lassey remembers. "The community had lost faith in the hospital."

Today, that faith is restored and Holton Community Hospital appears to be on sound footing. That's thanks in no small part to Lassey and Dr. Lee Schnee who arrived first, and two more KU School of Medicine-Wichita graduates who followed them here -- Drs. Clint Colberg and Malia Warner.

A recent expansion has provided more space for physical, occupational and speech therapy, plus a conference room, health information management office and sleeping quarters for two staff. "The hospital has improved and is thriving," said Dr. Joel Hutchins, yet another KU alumnus who was the only physician on staff before the influx of new doctors began.

Holton has about 3,300 residents. The 12-bed hospital serves the town and Jackson County, as well as several adjacent counties in northeast Kansas. It's a nonprofit institution governed by a board of seven elected members. For several years, the Holton hospital had been akin to a revolving door for physicians.

Lassey was undaunted by the hospital's challenges, for reasons that aren't surprising  the more you learn about him.  He believes in the adage that laughter is good medicine, and dispenses plenty of it in his practice and in a medical humor journal for which he writes in his spare time. His cluttered office is actually a section of hallway barely big enough to hold his basketball player-size frame; he spends as little time as possible there, preferring to be out and about in the hospital and adjacent Family Practice Associates clinic. When not practicing medicine he throws himself into a completely different kind of work, buying and renovating commercial property on Holton's picturesque courthouse square.

A Peck, Kansas, native, he aimed to be doctor from a young age. "It's a calling. I always knew." He learned about science from his science teacher father, and people skills from his mother.  

Lassey moonlighted at Holton Community Hospital while he was in the KU School of Medicine-Wichita's Smoky Hill Family Medicine Residency Program. He realized Holton was the kind of place where he could do a little of everything, from delivering babies, to minor surgery, to sports medicine, to trauma cases like dog bites and vehicle and farm accidents.

Once established in Holton, Lassey set about bringing more help aboard. A former chief resident at Smoky Hill, he recruited Colberg, who was one year behind him in school and residency. Then with the help of Colberg, they went after Warner, who was one year behind Colberg.

"You want to work with people you can trust with your patients and vice versa," Lassey said. "We knew each other, we were friends," Warner added. "Colberg took care of my kids when we were residents."

Warner, the only female physician in town, has concentrated on obstetrics and women's care. Before she arrived, many of her patients would have gone to Topeka. The roles have reversed and the clinic now sees patients from the Topeka area.

Warner, whose father was a physician and commanding officer of the hospital at Ft. Riley, earned bachelor's and master's degrees in chemistry. But she realized, "I can't stay in a lab. I need to talk to people or I will go crazy. I decided to use my interest in science another way."

Warner often cares for immigrants from Latin America, who come to Holton for jobs in the Johnsonville Sausage factory. On one challenging day, she completed complicated deliveries from two women who came to the hospital late in their pregnancies, speaking no English. The mothers and "babes," as Warner calls the infants, are fine today.

Lassey agrees the workload can be "pretty brutal." He spent 50 out of 62 hours on one weekend shift at the hospital. "It's not like we didn't know what we were getting into," he said. But the physicians agree that they enjoy the combination of small-town living and big city amenities within easy reach in Topeka and Kansas City.

Although no new physicians have joined the Holton group since 2009, Lassey, Warner and rest keep the pipeline open by welcoming KU medical students and residents on their rural rotations. "We love having students," Warner said. "I hope they love us."

Warner said the Holton physicians' friendships and comfort level with one another are a big reason for the local medical community's newfound stability. In turn, she said, "The community started to trust the hospital again because they saw that these doctors have actually stayed."

Lassey says the importance of quality rural health care is demonstrated every day, sometimes dramatically. He recalled the case of a man who suffered a heart attack and was being driven by his wife to the hospital. As she approached a crossroads, she realized it was 20 miles to Topeka if she turned left and 10 to Holton if she turned right. She turned right, which was a good choice since her husband's heart stopped beating about 30 seconds after they reached the emergency room. Before Lassey could race upstairs from the clinic, he said, nurses "shocked him and he did just fine."

"If she had turned left, he would have died on the way. And that's why small town hospitals are needed."