Dr. Heather Johnson

Teaming up on chronic illness

Doctor Heather Johnson loved every rotation she experienced while in medical school. That’s why she chose family medicine as her life’s work.

Family medicine has allowed Dr. Johnson to study and practice within a large scope in collaboration with a number of different health care professionals, becoming an expert in dealing with a wide variety of medical concerns every day.

Family doctors fulfill many unique and important roles that make their relationships with their patients special and the care they provide exceptional. For many of Dr. Johnson’s patients, this means playing an influential role in their well-being by acting as an educator, mentor and supporter when faced with chronic disease.

Between seeing her own inpatients at the South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater, working in a collaborative family practice, and making house calls, Dr. Johnson says chronic disease is something she sees quite often and the need for support is great.

“Unfortunately whether it is diabetes, cardiovascular disease or chronic pulmonary disease, a patient will never actually fully recover once being diagnosed, the healing and managing process can be long and difficult, mentally and physically. As a family physician I am with my patients every step of the way and I think that puts me in an extremely special position to help them.”

For Dr. Johnson, this position is amongst a strong team of health care professionals who work together every day to educate, detect and manage chronic disease in additional to many other health concerns.

“Our family practice is made up of a team of four doctors and one nurse practitioner,” she said. “And they’re incredible to work with.”

With an environment that embraces and thrives off of the collaborative and dynamic efforts of a health care team, Dr. Johnson believes her patients receive a unique, well rounded and exceptional health care experience.

“Working closely everyday with these talented health care professionals allows me to engage in discussion and learn new things all the time,” she said.

“I’m able to gather three or four different professional opinions on subjects like education, exercise, diet and necessary support programs in a matter of minutes. It’s this kind of atmosphere that allows our patients to continue to feel comfortable and confident in knowing that we are doing everything and anything we can to help them.”

Doing everything and anything means going above and beyond textbook treatment, a technique that Dr. Johnson is very fond of. It’s about building positive relationships and getting to know the individual lifestyles of her patients so she can provide appropriate and personalized care for each person so they can experience optimal health.

“When my patients speak, I listen carefully. There’s a lot to be said about the array of knowledge I have to know as a family physician about the human body and its many functions, but sometimes it’s the tiny but significant details that make all the difference in the care I provide.”

Dr. Johnson thoroughly enjoys working within a healthcare team and she admits there’s nothing she enjoys seeing more than a patient who decides to fight back against their illness, condition or disease to live a healthier life. To her, that’s the biggest reward of all.