WINDBER —
After working for 10 years at premier military hospitals in major metropolitan areas, Heather Johnston is embracing the different world she has found as a physician assistant at Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center in Windber.
“We are a small facility,” Johnston said. “We all definitely have a good working relationship among the staff.
“It’s a nice feeling; kind of like a small-family feeling amongst everyone.”
The family atmosphere extends to Windber’s regular patients, she added.
“It is not like a big hospital where you don’t always know everyone,” Johnston said. “I think the patients appreciate the atmosphere. We pull from everywhere.”
Johnston and her husband, Memorial Medical Center emergency medicine specialist Dr. Gregory Johnston, moved to Southmont last year with their daughter, Kenzie. Their second child, Kaylee, was born here in July.
They came from Washington, D.C., where they were on staff at the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Although there has been some adjustment, the family is embracing life here.
“Coming from D.C., there is always that culture shock,” Heather Johnston said. “But we love the slow pace here.
“We have a young family. It’s very important for us to have a neighborhood for them.”
The region’s outdoor recreation opportunities provide a bonus for the active family, she added.
It is not just the atmosphere and the community that is different. Johnston’s entire practice has changed since leaving the Defense Department’s medical world.
“Coming from the Army, it was mostly men,” she said.
The Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center allows Johnston to specialize her practice in a way that was not available in the busy military hospitals. And breast cancer prevention and treatment was a perfect match.
“Breast cancer runs in my family,” she said, listing several relatives who were diagnosed. “It has always had a special place in my heart.”
The sophistication and technology in Windber’s program and facility was a welcome discovery, she said.
“It is just an amazing place for the comprehensive care,” Johnston said, recalling how the military health system often required patients to make several visits to different facilities for treatments and procedures.
“To get everything done at once was phenomenal,” Johnston said. “It is really patient-centered care.”
Click here to subscribe to The Tribune-Democrat print edition.
Click here to subscribe to The Tribune-Democrat e-edition.
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
Raw Video: Fight Erupts in Ukrainian Parliament
Texan Ranchers Remain Wary of Drought
Raw Video: Soldiers Plant Flags at Arlington
Police: Man Arrested in Etan Patz Disappearance
NYC Protests: the Revolution Will Be Scripted
Chicago U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald Resigns
Neighbors of Etan Patz's Suspect: It's Shocking
Gulf Fishermen Reel From Seafood Troubles
Stuntman Makes Skydive Without Parachute in UK
