Dr. Dale Ross made it through prom night in the emergency room at Niobrara Health and Life Center.

And he did it all alone.

"I realized I was the only doctor in town," Ross said of that night he worked in the small, rural hospital in Lusk.

Nothing too traumatic happened, but the experience prepared him for a career as a rural family medicine doctor.

One shift in a Lander clinic, a woman came in with respiratory failure. Once again, Ross looked around and saw he was the only physician in the building.

He quickly stabilized the woman and escorted her to the hospital.

Ross graduated this week from the University of Wyoming Family Medicine Residency Program of Casper, a program known for accepting nontraditional residents who want to practice in rural areas.

It's also a program that helps recruit physicians to the state.

Ross, an native of northern Idaho, accepted a position at the Community Health Center of Central Wyoming after spending his three residency years here. The residency program partners with the center.

Ross's road to becoming a doctor was anything but traditional.

From a marine in the Persian Gulf War to a deputy sheriff to a firefighter, Ross didn't decide to go to medical school until later in his life. He attended Dartmouth Medical School, which he said was a great learning experience, but he knew he was a different doctor from what he saw on the East Coast.

"The Casper program tries to hold on to family medicine for what family medicine really is," Ross said. "My ideal is a little more of the country doc. I'm OK with trading care for chickens."

Dr. Rishona Corson took a similarly unique route to Casper.

Corson started her life as a political science major and worked in intelligence for the U.S. government for five years before she became a paramedic. After a severe wrist injury, Corson decided to go to medical school to become an emergency room physician.

She chose to do her residency in Casper because of its rural nature.

"I like having a place that is affordable to live, where there is not a lot of traffic," Corson said. "And combine that with helping with a medical crisis."

Even though she left Casper a few weeks ago for an emergency medicine residency program in Pennsylvania, Corson said she wants to return to Wyoming.

"It's at the top of my list," Corson said. "Wyoming is definitely up there."

About 50 percent of residents in the Casper and Cheyenne programs stay in Wyoming to practice while another 25 percent go to bordering states, said Dr. Stephan Trent, director of the Casper program.

Cheyenne also has a family medicine residency program.

"It's not just academics," Trent said of the only two physician-training areas in the state. "It's to bring doctors to the state and region."

The Casper residency program receives about 250 applications each year from interested doctors, Trent said. The program accepts about seven or eight people to the program.

Only three other residents graduated with Ross and Corson, but seven new residents started work in Casper Tuesday.

They work at the health center, hospitals, doctors' offices and outreach clinics during their three years here.

"If you are hurt or sick and you go to the hospital, there is a good chance you will see a resident," Trent said. "You are likely to be treated by a resident or a graduate."

Corson said formulating strong relationships with other physicians in the community is a reason some graduates stay in Casper or nearby.

Physicians would call her in the middle of the night to come help put in a chest tube.

Ross received calls at 3 a.m. to assist with Cesarean sections.

"On the East Coast, maybe you will see some deliveries, but you won't get to do C-sections," Ross said of other family medicine programs.

During his three years in Casper, Ross performed about 100 Cesarean sections and was the primary surgeon on 70 of them.

"Training on the East Coast can be severely limited," Ross said.

The comprehensiveness of the Casper program impressed Ross. As a family medicine doctor in a rural area, Ross said he needs to be able to deal with every specialty.

And he didn't want to just be able to handle different situations, he wanted to be "damn good at it.

"I've seen the sickest of the sick, the newborns, the middle-of-life problems," Ross said. "I am comfortable to go into a town like Lusk and be the only doctor."

Contact health reporter Allison Rupp at (307) 266-0534 or allison.rupp@trib.com.