Article Explores One Doctor's Foray into Truckstop Medicine

Trucker Terry Jenkins, in order to get his mandatory drug screening, remembers the time he had to park his truck in the lot of a big box store, take a taxi to a hospital 20 miles away, wait a couple of hours there for test results, then take another cab back to his truck.

But recently he was able to stop at the Petro truckstop off I-81 near Raphine, Virginia, and visit the truckstop medical clinic of Rob Marsh, a doctor who still makes house calls as he operates a tiny medical practice about 15 miles away in Middlebrook, Va.

The 58-year-old doctor has been offering medical care to truckers for about two and a half years. An article in the Washington Post introduces readers to Marsh, the expanding travel center, and how the truckstop practice helps both truck drivers as well as the country doctor keep his single-physician private practice alive.

Marsh, who already spends most nights making house calls and hospital rounds, often finds himself treating patients at the truck stop at 8 p.m., long after the clinic has technically closed. He is thinking about whether on some nights he can keep it open even later.

Marsh may in many ways be an old-fashioned country doctor, but the Post notes that with electronic medical records, he can forward information from his exams to other health providers, so drivers can get medication or follow-up care farther along their routes.