Country GPs are not generally thought of as being surgeons, anaesthetists and obstetricians.
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But Dr Jan Reddy has been all of that and more.
While his official title is 'general practitioner', the 76-year-old has saved far too many lives for his career to be considered one of consults and scripts.
Like in 2016, when he was faced with an emergency labour at Culcairn, 20 years after obstetrics ceased at the hospital there.
"Her husband got hurt, and she brought the husband to the hospital ... I was going to do the surgery," Dr Reddy said.
"Then the nurse rings me and said, 'The wife is also getting some back pain, I put her in the bed'.
"When I went there, half the baby was out. I nearly had a heart attack."
The baby, delivered at only 27 weeks, did not breathe for some minutes.
"That happened to be my son's birthday on that day. I thought, 'You're not going to ruin my day'. It happened and the baby breathed," Dr Reddy said.
The woman was expecting twins - there was consultation with NSW Health about whether to deliver at Culcairn, and nearly two hours later, they were at Wodonga maternity.
"After going there, the foetal heart was OK, [but] the baby was not coming, so they got ready for caesarean," Dr Reddy said.
"We wheeled the bed into the theatre room and the baby came out - I happened to catch it.
"The mother and two babies were flown to Melbourne."
Patients have come first for Dr Reddy since the day he took over from Dr Alan Baird as the town doctor in 1974.
He and wife Usha had been living in Sydney the year before, having immigrated from India with their baby son, Ajay.
"I came in 1973 from Sydney, to work as a junior doctor at Albury Base Hospital. At that time, Dr Allan Hogan was there," Dr Reddy recalled.
"I was very impressed by him.
"When I went back to Royal North Shore Hospital, I was in a meeting, and we happened to meet Dr Alan Baird, who was leaving [Culcairn].
"He said, 'Just come and see whether you might like it'."
"I really liked my stay in Albury, so I came back, and three months gone, I forgot about it [Sydney]."
After seven years in Culcairn, the Reddys built a surgery on a vacant block on the corner of Balfour and Federal streets.
David Gilmore arrived in Culcairn in 1972 as a teacher and said Dr Reddy was known to attend Walla, Henty, Cookardinia and Walbundrie - wherever he was needed.
"Dr Reddy never went away without there being an experienced locum," he said.
"He often stayed when there were pony club events or football and netball games.
"He'd come out on Christmas Day at 3am in the morning."
Mr Gilmore said Dr Reddy was crucial in advocacy to ensure Culcairn maintained access to acute, round-the-clock care in the late 1990s - although Dr Reddy credits councillors Eric Thomas and Allan Fifield.
"It was going to be a 9 to 5 facility with no overnight patients, that was the plan, and Allan through the council was able to stand up and say 'no'," he said.
"Culcairn then joined one of the first MPS [multi-purpose service] pilots.
"After that, the community got together and built Kiltearn House."
As a visiting medical officer, Dr Reddy cared for many aged care residents - including Mr Gilmore's father.
"Dr Reddy was so good to him and all the residents - I remember we had a bad flu three or four years ago," he said.
"My Dad had it bad, but with Dr Reddy's help and my Dad's determination, he got through it, and I'm grateful for that."
Mr Gilmore and the Culcairn community have known for some years Dr Reddy planned to retire - but the date of December 31, 2020 has still come too quickly.
He was the only VMO available to the Greater Hume Shire last summer, and general manager Steven Pinnuck said work was continuing with the incoming lessee of Dr Reddy's practice, Sarkon Medical Centre, to secure a permanent doctor and VMO.
"He's really stayed on hoping there would be a suitable replacement," Mr Pinnuck said.
"Getting a replacement doctor in, whether it is Culcairn, Holbrook or Henty, is challenging.
"Getting doctors that are sufficiently trained, so that they get credentialing from Murrumbidgee Health to get access to the hospital, is even more challenging.
"Most of the doctors that come are international medical graduates, which is exactly what Dr Reddy was 40-odd years ago."
In reality, there will never be an adequate replacement for the much-loved doctor, whose service was recognised by 200 people at a function in 1999, and by an OAM in 2004.
There are plans to establish a plaque for Dr Reddy at the now-upgraded Culcairn MPS, and he has been nominated for Greater Hume citizen of the year, which Mavis Gardiner, the first chairperson of the local health advisory committee, supported in a testimonial.
"Dr Reddy's contribution went well above the call of duty as he was available 24/7," she said.
"Many people were appreciative that he did excisions here, so people did not have to travel to Albury.
"One Christmas Day he came back to Culcairn from an out-of-town luncheon with friends, to treat one of our children.
"He is a compassionate medical practitioner."
Dr Reddy's empathy and close connections to the community have been a welcome, but heavy, weight on his shoulders.
"One Christmas time, two brothers were killed," he said.
"Ambulance and police came, and I was nervous, wondering what I would tell her [their mother].
"Things like that are hard.
"I'm glad that I used to do anaesthetics, because I got so much experience in emergency.
"If somebody stops breathing, I can put the tube in without any problems. I have done so many."
Mrs Reddy said her husband had given many devastating diagnoses in his 46 years.
"If a patient came in, and he sent them for test, he would say, 'I bet it's cancer, but I wish I'm wrong, I want to be wrong'," she said.
"But it used to always come up with what he said."
"First I curse my situation, and after that ... I think how lucky I am to face it," he said.
"The town says they're lucky - I think I'm lucky.
"I hope the town will get a replacement.
"It's hard for new doctors to be on call seven days a week ... they don't want that kind of life.
"But they don't know what they're missing at the end of that life."
