Patients wait outside the Tutwiler Clinic in Mississippi Delta country. The state has the highest rates of poverty and heart disease in the nation and the second-highest rate of diabetes. (Lance Murphey / For The Times)
Toya Hawkins waits with nieces Ashley Sutton, 11 months, and Jessica Sutton, 4, outside the Tutwiler Clinic. The clinic is open to all. (Lance Murphey / For The Times)
Patients wait to be seen at the Tutwiler Clinic. When Dr. Anne Brooks took over in 1983, the clinic still had racially segregated waiting rooms. (Lance Murphey / For The Times)
Dana McPherson, left, hands her daughter Ashley Sutton, 11 months, to sister Toya Hawkins while passing time in the clinic’s waiting room. When Dr. Anne Brooks arrived in 1983, the building still had racially segregated waiting rooms. (Lance Murphey / For The Times)
Dr. Anne Brooks consults with patient Anita Hudgins about a rare condition that Hudgins suffers. (Lance Murphey / For The Times)
Dr. Anne Brooks, left, speaks with Dianna Rushing about a patient assistance program, with Maxine Stanley, right. Brooks, a Catholic nun who earned her medical degree in her mid-forties, opened the clinic 27 years ago. (Lance Murphey / For The Times)
Dr. Anne Brooks examines a patient at the clinic, which is open to all. (Lance Murphey / For The Times)
Dr. Anne Brooks consults with fellow physician Narayan Bhetwal of Nepal, who has been with the clinic for three years. (Lance Murphey / For The Times)
Dr. Anne Brooks, seen in a hallway mirror, completes paperwork in her office after seeing a young patient who had a run-in with poison ivy. The nun-turned-physician has treated the poor for 27 years. (Lance Murphey / For The Times)
Richard Johnson and Deonte Staples stroll past City Hall in the impoverished Mississippi Delta community. (Lance Murphey / For The Times)
Percy Lee Ham says his relatives plan to renovate an abandoned service station where people often go to drink. (Lance Murphey / For The Times)
A resident crosses the bayou from the African American section of town to downtown. The town prides itself on being one of the birthplaces of the blues. (Lance Murphey / For The Times)
