For more than half a century, a western Illinois doctor made sure healthcare remained affordable and available for the region’s residents.
The late Dr. Russell Dohner is being remembered and honored with an exhibit at The Hub Arts & Cultural Center, 210 N. Congress St. in Rushville. “The $5 Doctor - Leave a Legacy of Good” will remain on display through Oct. 25.
The exhibit includes large panels that tell Dohner’s story. It also includes artifacts from his childhood, military service, and practice, plus several of his signature fedoras.
‘A heart for the community’
Dohner began his practice in Rushville in the mid-1950s.
Erin Eveland, Executive Director of The Hub, said the doctor initially charged $2 for office visits. About a quarter century later he increased the price to $5 so that he could pay his nurses.
Dohner kept the cost at $5 for more than another quarter century.
Eveland said he took care of the community, and the community took care of him.
“I think he just really had a heart for the community,” she said.
“The exhibit is about the legacy that he left, and I want people to think about the legacy that they can leave to their community.”
In addition to his legacy as the $5 doctor, Dohner also loved nature and planted a countless number of trees in Schuyler County.
Eveland said when Dohner wasn’t treating people, he was often out fishing.
“Normally in his tie because he was always ready to be on call. He said he didn’t think people would want to see him in his fishing gear,” she said.
Eveland said Dohner had a cabin on Schuy-Rush Lake, and fishing there was his getaway – he never really took a vacation.
‘A genuine, solid, good-hearted man’
One of the doctor’s nephews, Mark Dohner, attended the opening reception for the exhibit.
He said the $5 doctor refused to charge any fee to family members.
“He was just a genuine, solid, good-hearted man,” Mark said.
He called the display at The Hub “an awfully good exhibit.” He found it nostalgic to see the artifacts from the doctor’s life.
“Everything that I’m seeing are things that I remember. So, is it representative of Uncle Russell? Yes, it is,” Mark said.
He said his uncle’s heart was in his practice, and what Dr. Dohner practiced was much different than what’s seen from the pharmaceutical industry today.
“Anyone that wants to see how an old-time doctor operated and functioned, come take a look (at this exhibit), because it’s in front of you,” he said.
Mark said he remembers getting a call at 12:30 a.m. from a woman in Macomb who was sick and wondering whether Dr. Dohner would be willing to see her right away. He was, so she drove to Rushville in the middle of the night to be treated.
“Everyone knew that he was accessible most any time. He made himself that way,” Mark said.
More about the doctor
Dohner was born in a brick farmhouse outside of Astoria on Feb. 8, 1925.
According to the exhibit, Dohner suffered from severe high fevers when he was a child. The fevers sometimes brought on seizures. After one episode, he awoke to the face of Doc Hamilton at his bedside, and at that moment Dohner decided he wanted to be a doctor.
Dohner graduated from Vermont High School in 1943. After serving in the military, he attended Western Illinois Teacher’s College, now Western Illinois University, from 1946 to 1949 as a pre-medical student. He then went on to Northwestern Medical School, graduating from there in 1953.
Dohner opened his office in Rushville on April 20, 1955, and served Rushville and the surrounding area for the next 59 years. He was available every day of the week. The exhibit quotes him as having said, “Money isn’t the object. Taking care of people is my job – and I love it.”
Dohner’s reputation as the $5 doctor gained national attention and he was featured on national television programs and in national magazines.
Dohner passed away on Aug. 7, 2015.
A plaque next to a sculpture of Dohner in Rushville Central Park thanks him “for the many years of love and dedication you have bestowed upon our community as both a distinguished physician and as one of our finest citizens.”
Making the exhibit possible
The Hub Cultural & Arts Center and the Schuyler Jail Museum collaborated on “The $5 Doctor” exhibit. Illinois Humanities awarded a grant, and sponsorships were provided by Rushville State Bank, the Rushville Rotary Club, and Moreland and Devitt Pharmacy. Dohner was involved with Rotary for decades.
The Schuyler Jail Museum, Culbertson Memorial Hospital, the Kirkham family, Molly Sorrell, and Lynn Stambaugh provided the artifacts, images, and reference information for the exhibit.
Eveland said The Hub does an annual exhibit that focuses on local history. She said it seemed fitting to share Dohner’s story following last year’s exhibit on the community’s annual Smiles Day celebration.
Tri States Public Radio produced this story. TSPR relies on financial support from our readers and listeners in order to provide coverage of the issues that matter to west central Illinois, southeast Iowa, and northeast Missouri. As someone who values the content created by TSPR's news department please consider making a financial contribution.
