On a recent Thursday morning, John Hodges walked one of his older patients out the door. "God bless you for being here, John," the patient said, shaking the nurse practitioner's hand on his way out.
Ralls, about 30 miles east of Lubbock, sits in Crosby County and is on the edge of a West Texas medical desert, with limited services offered at Crosbyton Clinic Hospital, the only hospital in the county. Other resources are also being stretched thin due to nearby counties that lack healthcare access.
