Dr. Dave Jain, 63, walks down a hallway of the shuttered and gutted Twin Rivers Regional Medical Center in Kennett, Mo. Prior to its closure in 2018, Dr. Jain had worked in the hospital for decades and performed countless surgeries. His specialties included installing stents and pacemakers while running his clinic. “Patients like to be taken care of by the same people,” he said. The hospital allowed Dr. Jain to provide his patients care during more complex medical issues. 

Dr. Jain listens to patient Danny Byrne’s heart at Jain Medical Center. In his work as a primary care physician, he’s cared for many of his patients for decades — some even for the entire 33 years he’s worked and lived here. Dr. Jain has no plans to stop. “I think I’d upset too many people if I retired,” he said.

Glenn Petersen, center, and Jesse Earl Jones, right, in Dr. Jain’s cardiac rehab center in his clinic in Kennett. Patients receive 35 sessions for free — whether they’re insured or not — with the clinic covering the rest of the costs. “I don’t practice medicine for the money,” Dr. Jain said. 

The obituary for Glenda, Dr. Jain’s late wife, hangs in the hallway of the clinic. Glenda died a little over two years ago from lung cancer. Dr. Jain said she had a cough for two weeks. So, he brought her in for a chest X-Ray and found the mass. He sent the scans to a pulmonologist friend who confirmed his fears — stage 4 lung cancer. He lost Glenda a little over a year later.

Dr. Jain wears a tie featuring an image of the Kennett Palace Theater while taking notes during a patient appointmen. Dr. Jain hands out tickets at Kennett’s only theater from Thursday through Sunday night each week. The theater stands as a legacy of his wife. Her dream had come true. She restored the theatre with her friends so the local youth had a cinema to enjoy.

Outside the Kennett Palace Theater, Dr. Jain chats with his daughter-in-law Lauren and son Nicholas during the Delta Fair parade. Lauren is pregnant with the couple’s first child and Dr. Jain’s first grandchild. She’ll be induced at a hospital an hour away in Jonesboro, Ark., on Monday. The child would have been born in Kennett had the hospital not closed. 

A marching band passes the Kennett Palace Theater, Dr. Jain and his friends and family as part of the Delta Fair parade.

Dr. Jain waves customers over to the ticket counter for a showing of “The Forge." The 100-plus-year-old theater plays one movie at a time Thursday through Sunday while Dr. Jain sells tickets and snacks. 

Glenda's cookbooks remain on the shelves in the kitchen — a space rarely touched since she died. Dr. Jain eats most meals out with friends or family. 

Late one evening, in an armchair in the home he once shared with his wife and three children, Dr. Jain speaks into a microphone while working on patients’ charts. Many nights are spent similarly, working through documents while shows play on the TV “for the noise,” he said. Since the death of his wife, Dr. Jain fills his time with work to stave off the loneliness. “I don’t have any hobbies,” he said. “I started working at the Jonesboro Urgent Care on weekends after my wife died. It’s better than staring at four walls and watching Netflix.” 

As the wind blows across the flat Missouri bootheel, Dr. Jain, looks down at the grave of his late wife Glenda. Half the gravestone is reserved for him, to rest next to his wife after his own death.