People in Dodge City get concerned when they see Dr. Jim Moffitt dressed in anything other than cowboy boots and jeans. "If he's wearing slacks, they'll say 'What's wrong with 'Doc'?'" says his wife Deb.

But Moffitt's connection to this town celebrated for its Old West heritage goes much deeper than clothes. In addition to caring for dozens of patients each day at his clinic and Western Plains Medical Complex, Moffitt is medical director for emergency medical services in Ford and Gray counties, coroner in six counties, and a long-time volunteer doctor for the Kansas State High School Rodeo Association.

"I think he's the busiest doctor in southwest Kansas," says Deb Moffitt.

She should know. Deb Moffitt is a licensed specialist clinical social worker whose office sits next to her husband's. Not that he's ever in that office, since he's usually down the hall treating a steady stream of patients, all of whom he seems to know personally as well as professionally.

The road to Dodge City

The Moffitts opened Family Care Clinic of Western Kansas in 2010, a decade after moving to Dodge. Jim Moffitt grew up in Washington, Kansas, near the Nebraska state line, and earned an agriculture degree, thinking he'd become a veterinarian.

Instead, he and Deb spent five years managing a home for people with serious mental illnesses for the Menninger Clinic in Topeka. That experience persuaded him to become a doctor. Moffitt completed his medical studies at the KU School of Medicine–Wichita in 1998, and his residency at Wesley Medical Center three years later.

Moffitt discovered Dodge City while doing a summer internship between his first and second year of medical school; it was the only place that would allow him to bring along his family, which by then included a young son. He started his career at Family Practice Associates of Western Kansas in Dodge, and credits doctors Merrill Conant and R.C. Trotter, also graduates from the Wichita campus, for giving him help early on.

"The key to success is having somebody who's been there give help when you need it," he says.

When the time came to open his own clinic, Moffitt did it in a style that reflects his personality: exam rooms have themes - one is effectively a shrine to John Wayne - and are numbered with signs "Genesis 1" and "Psalms 3." He has 12 full-time employees.

Professional - with personality

On one recent morning, the first patient Moffitt sees is a 21-year-old woman who's experiencing nausea early in her first pregnancy. Moffitt discusses some options for dealing with it, but the pair spends almost as much time talking about her pending examination to become a paramedic. "I know you know the stuff," Moffitt tells her. He gives her his cell phone number, "So you can call me when you're out on a run."

Next comes a former athlete, now middle-aged, in for a routine check-up. "Your vitals look great," Moffitt says, before the conversation turns to a mutual acquaintance and hunting.

Then there's a burly, elderly farmer who lost most of the feeling in one leg after being run over by a tractor 30 years ago; the leg has developed an open sore that Moffitt doesn't like the looks of. The man and his wife joke and swap family news with Moffitt. When the farmer tells Moffitt he's thinking about trying a home remedy based on apple cider vinegar, the doctor doesn't try to dissuade him, although he's prescribed traditional treatment. "I know guys who give that stuff to their horses a quart at a time. They think it makes them run faster."

Another patient is a youth baseball coach who has been struck in the head by a baseball thrown by a child whose local nickname - "Wild Bill" - was bestowed by Moffitt. The doctor listens to his patient's symptoms, examines him, and pronounces his verdict: grade 2 concussion.

"For a few days, you need to just really take it easy," he tells the man. Then they spend a few minutes talking about farming, which both do on a part-time basis.

In another room, an elderly female patient tells Moffitt that she thinks she is ready to have her second knee replacement surgery. Moffitt suggests waiting at least until after summer has passed, so she can enjoy the outdoor season. She agrees to opt for an injection for now.

One cowboy, many hats

Moffitt sees an average of 33 patients a day at the clinic. He delivers 70 to 80 babies a year. He works eight night shifts a month at the hospital and, as a director of emergency medical services, is always on call for any EMT who needs to call him on his cell phone.

"There's no part of medicine he doesn't like," Deb Moffitt says. "This way he gets to do all of it."

Despite the full schedule, spending time with his family is of primary importance to Moffitt. He and Deb often eat lunch together, and Deb has a goal (not always met) that their children never go longer than 24 hours without seeing their father. The family has been known to eat dinner at the hospital.

A steer wrestler and team roper in his youth, Moffitt passed along his love of horses to his children. In addition to his son, Tyrel, who went to Garden City Community College on a rodeo scholarship, daughters Ellie, Mishayla and Kate all enjoy riding.  Mishayla is the only one of the children thinking about becoming a doctor herself.

Moffitt finds time to encourage lots of young physicians. Each year, four or five residents do a rural rotation with Moffitt. "A lot of them say, 'If I'd known rural medicine was like this, I would have been more excited about it,'" Moffitt says.

No doubt, the young doctors are seeing the appeal of Moffitt's genuine connection and relationship with his patients. As Deb Moffitt says of the community, "We're one of them."