Rural Medicine Goes to Therapy

Rural medicine doctor and Texaco Mike could use some help

[DGlaucomflecken]

Thanks for watching. As you all know, I love addressing real issues in health care with a healthy dose of comedy. I love producing videos that make you laugh but also hurt a little bit, that's what makes good satire. Mental health in rural communities is probably the most serious issue I've addressed in my content, which is why I wanted to take it on more directly here without snark or sarcasm. While I was researching and writing this skit, I learned a lot from this website. Check it out to learn more about the mental health crisis in rural communities.

[antikovt]

Rural Medicine Doctor is quickly becoming my favourite character in the DGCU (Dr. Glaucomflecken Cinematic Universe) and isn't planning to stop. He's just so weirdly relatable and likeable, and the issues you bring up in relation to rural medicine are something I've never heard about before, which makes it all the more impactful. Thanks for speaking up about these problems and bringing them to light, your ways to gently teach the audience something important through tiny comedic skits never stop to impress.

[zahrakosgi]

So glad to see Dr.Glaucomflecken raising awareness about this topic which is often ignored…

[anacoanagoldenflower]

I'm a therapist in an extremely rural, poverty-stricken area that has tons of substance use and generational trauma and...yeah. This is it. People will proudly show you the homemade stitches (made out of fence wire, yes I'm serious) they did to their arm but will suffer for decades with mental health issues; which then when I help their kids, sometimes makes the parents lash out because their own suffering is so raw. Some families are supportive, or the teenagers have been on the internet enough to know that it's not just them who needs help, so I'm not saying every family is bad because some really do want to help and know what's going on. But there's also MASSIVE stigma around stuff that's not just "garden-variety" depression or anxiety or bipolar; because those are easier to understand, and everyone has a bad day sometimes so they figure depression or anxiety are just like that x50, and there can be really sweet community support. But then one of my clients with schizophrenia was attacked because people's only exposure to schizophrenia was from the movie Split and other schizophrenia=serial killer movies. Another client's family was told to never come back to church because he was "a danger" because of his psychosis that made him scared of everything, while a client with DID was dumped at our crisis center because his girlfriend thought he was possessed. On the other hand, I have two clients who separately walk around town 24/7, one often screaming/praying while the other tries to 'help' by breaking into ambulances to 'assist' the EMTs (so many fun conversations with police and judges about why he shouldn't be thrown in prison); everyone can tell they're Not Well, and so they'll often get given food for free or treated with extra kindness in some stores, or me and other professionals who work with them will get updates on where they are or what they've done; we keep confidentiality very strictly, but when you're the only mental health place for three hours people know your client goes to you. So there's the horrible, but there's also deep community support in the same breath.

[vdinh]

I used to think Texaco Mike was some medical term I wasn't familiar with. I just now realized it's just Mike who runs the local Texaco gas station, ferries people on his fan boat, and somehow came into possession of an MRI/CT combi-oven.

[eliseebrown]

From a farmer who has experienced mental health crises: Thank you so much for talking about this.

[seazenlu]

I love how rural med acknowledges the farming community's struggles with mental health. The fields of medicine interacting are fun to watch but we still see the bleaker aspects of stuff.

[randoprior]

My farmer grandfather just recently passed, so I'll tell you all a short story about him! My entire life that I knew him, he only had one leg. I didn't really learn why he only had the one left until a couple years ago! The story goes that he was working in the field driving a combine. I don't know exactly what happened, but somehow his boot lace got caught in the rotating machinery and his leg got ripped off at the knee. He used his radio equipment to contact my grandmother and ask for her to call him an ambulance. But he knew it would be a while before they got to him. He used his other boot lace to tourniquet his leg and kept combining until the paramedics showed up!

That man had survived so many times where many would have died. He beat cancer three times! To those who don't know anyone in rural communities these rural videos seem quite exaggerated I'm sure, but they honestly aren't that far out!

I also wanted to say that my gramps did receive mental health care through his life and honestly that fact has always made me feel more confident in receiving care for my own. It isn't weakness to need help. If a badass farmer who can keep working after having his leg ripped off, or could keep laughing at himself and the world when he was 80 years old halfway up a ladder when his leg lands on the ground 10' below, is okay talking about and receiving mental health care then it really proves it isn't about strength. Take care of your mental health friends. Doesn't matter where you live or work! Don't be afraid or think you aren't worthy of receiving care. Everyone could benefit from taking a proactive approach to mental health.

[hiltonian_]

I wasn’t even a farm kid, but grew up in rural Vermont. When I was thirteen I visited a friend’s uncles farm. It was haying time and they were short handed so they put me on a tractor and told me which pedals to push. Never mind the brakes; they don’t work. Just stop by downshifting. I was thirteen so I was fine with it.

That’s just one illustration of why farms are death traps. My high school had a few kids with missing body parts or horrific scars. That uncle later lost his entire leg to a piece of equipment. Dr G makes it funny, but it’s funny because it’s true.

[geckoman]

My father is a large animal vet in a rural community. He passed out and landed in the ER and diagnosed with appendicitis. He was third on the list for surgery so he asked if he could go to work and come back when they were ready for him.

[cheyennew]

Kids in rural communities start driving farm equipment as soon as they can see over the steering wheel.

[sn]

I live in a midwest farming community, and these rural doctor skits are so true to life.

I wasn't expecting to cry, but the serious part in the middle brought a tear to my eye. Poignantly accurate about the high incidence, and stigma.

I also chuckled. "But... you're not wearing houndstooth, nor corduroy...!" And the emphasis on, "from the University...." Mwa! Perfect! The University is viewed with well-earned suspicion and derision in farm circles. One typical story: ... that time the vet med class came out on a field trip to the livestock farm, and the students couldn't tell which end of the ewe was the front end! Lol

[ceral]

Those are some Sir Terry Pratchett levels of wrapping serious issues in a comedic cloak that gets it through to the people who are not aware of said issues. Impressive!

[Ky-kxhd]

My 6y/o grandpa got pulled over and driven back to his house. When his dad saw them, he asked "what'd he do wrong?"
Cop: "He was driving a tractor, sir."
Dad: "I know that, it's mine. What'd he do wrong?"
After a minute of discussion, the cop admitted that my grandpa had been following traffic laws perfectly, lol!

After the cop left, the dad told my grandpa to walk back to the tractor and finish what he asked him to do 😂

[silentteyz]

Give it another month and Texaco Mike will become a neurosurgeon

[hashslingingslasher]

On a serious note, as a psych resident that sees a decent amount of patients from a rural area, I really appreciate this video.

On a less serious note, I demand to meet Texaco Mike in a future video.

[ekner]

I love texaco mike's combination CT and MRI service. One tube, just send 'em through both in one shot. A true visionary. I've said it before, Dr G, you gotta let us meet this character!

[tamikurahara]

I hope there are more episodes on this visit. I’d love to see the Psychiatrist sit with a “receptive” farmer who would maintain the same expression throughout and after rural doc tells psychiatrist how helpful that was.

[alexanderbusch]

The tractor part had be laughing out loud :D

Me and most of my family grew up in rural Germany and my stepfather once told me, that he was late for school and missed the schoolbus. So, he did as everyone would, took his uncles tractor, a speedy boi (John deer i think) and just drove himself to school. Naturaly he got grounded, even though be brought up the argument, that he returned the tractor in one pice :D

The years onward, he stole several other tracors to meet his friends, highjacked a forklift, with wich he subsequential ran into a garage door and completly demolished it and the forklift.

In his time in the army he manage to sink a training tank in a lake...and all of it, befor he was 18 and befor getting his license :D Now he is one of the best and safest and moste responsible drivers i know, never had a accident since the drowning of the tank :D

[maggiestinnett]

I instinctively knew as soon as he said he needed a doctor's note, he wanted it to prove he could work.