Coffee With: Janice Johnston

The first female pediatrician in theFarmington Valley, Johnston is now a master gardener

By Carl Wiser

Staff Writer

Janice Johnston at BeanZ and Co. in Avon. (Carl Wiser)

When Janice Johnston graduated from Duke Medical School in 1967, she was one of two women in a class of 80. To get over the very high bar of admissions, she double-majored in English and chemistry as an undergrad at the all-girls Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and minored in biology.

“I had to have the best credentials because it was difficult for a woman to get into medical school in those days,” she says.

Why English? That’s what her mentor, Dr. Nicholas Bertha, suggested.

“He was the head of the Medical Society of New Jersey, and he had a finger on the pulse of the medical schools and knew what they were looking for,” says Johnston. “So instead of being a biology major, he said no, be chemistry and English. Those were the majors the medical schools were looking for at that time.”

The English major was valued because it showed communication skills, a strong suit for Dr. Johnston. “When I was seeing patients, I had a pad and we’d talk about food,” she says. “I’d break down the foods that they should have and different things they should do, and give them to patients. So as we talked I’d be writing. A lot of people told me they still have those papers.”

Choosing Pediatrics

Johnston was about nine when she chose medicine as her field, and she pursued it with bold determination. Born and raised in Dover, New Jersey, at 12 she started working as a candy striper at a nearby hospital, where she became an EKG technician and worked in as many different areas as she could. After graduating from medical school, she took a rotating internship at Cooper Hospital in Camden, New Jersey, which exposed her to various specialties.

“When I started in internal medicine, which was fascinating, I found that I could not lift the patients up by myself to have a proper examination, and I decided I couldn’t perform in that sphere,” Johnston says. “I’d already ruled out surgery as a specialty because it was too cold to be in the operating room. I couldn’t stand the cold.”

Drawn to obstetrics and gynecology, Johnston was particularly interested in following high-risk pregnancies through to delivery, but found herself gravitating towards pediatrics, which was a natural fit. She moved to Avon in 1970 and started working in the pediatric department at Hartford Hospital (her husband at the time took a job at the newly opened Westledge School in Simsbury). Her mentor, Dr. Bertha, had some advice. 

“He said, ‘You’re never going to grow up in medicine until you go out on your own,’ so I decided to call different pediatricians in the area to see if they needed an associate to practice with. Dr. Richard Bason in Simsbury hadn’t had a day off in three years, so his wife was very interested in him having a partner.”

In August 1971, Johnston joined Dr. Bason’s practice, becoming the first female pediatrician in the Farmington Valley. They were located in the Cannon Building in the center of town, then in 1973 moved to the medical building at 225 Hopmeadow St., where it still operates as Simsbury Pediatrics.

“I enjoyed my work, I enjoyed the people,” she says. “The community was different than it is now. It was more rural. There were a lot of farmers and a mix of suburban people who were working for the insurance companies. The husbands traveled, so sometimes we’d get a call from somebody with a very sick child while the husband was away and there were other kids at home. So what do you do? If they can’t get a neighbor to come and help, then we’d go and see them at home.

“There weren’t the vaccines then that there are now, specifically the influenza H2 vaccine, so the croup seasons, which were spring and fall, you had to go to the office at night fairly frequently. Also, we didn’t have answering services at night, so I rarely slept through a night that I was on call.”

Those nights on call were tough, but they could also be rewarding.

“One night a long time ago I had been to the office after hours a couple of times for croup. I’m home asleep, and it’s midnight. I get a call that a little boy had fallen out of bed and cut his head. His mother said he was bleeding fairly badly, so I got myself up and met him at the office, stitched up his cut and told the mother how to treat it. Then he put his arms around my neck and hugged me. That paid for the whole thing.”

Where’s The Doctor?

Johnston practiced until 2011. A big positive change during her 40-year career came when the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center opened in 1996.

“In those early years, Avon Mountain was a big deterrent to going into Hartford, and when people got to the emergency room, children weren’t a big priority,” Johnston says. “When the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center appeared, we had an emergency room we could send children to. Before that time, we were kind of the emergency room.”

Also, as more women entered the field, Johnston didn’t hear the question, “Where’s the doctor?” as often.

“Sometimes I’d get a call to come in to see a laceration on a weekend,” she says. “The father would bring the child in and he’d say, ‘Where’s the doctor? Are you the nurse?’ I’d say, ‘No, I’m the doctor. I can sew this up for you, or you can take him to the emergency room.’ Usually they let me take care of it.”

Johnston in 1973, two years after becoming the first female pediatrician in the Farmington Valley. (courtesy photo)

The $8 Office Visit

“When I started practice, we charged $8 for an office visit,” Johnston says. “Then Governor [Thomas] Meskill said doctors can’t raise their rates for two years, so we were stuck at $8, but they were getting $10 in Farmington.”

Some patients even made trade deals. “We’d get Amway products or something.”

Over time, increased costs and insurance restrictions became a problem. “Sometimes we had to tell people they couldn’t come to us because of an insurance change.”

Near the end of Johnston’s career, a huge administrative burden was placed on doctors.

“The electronic medical record came in,” she says. “That created much more work and irritation. I think if that had not come in, I would have probably stayed on a few more years. It was very hard to navigate a laptop in the office when you have a patient and two or three other siblings in the office too.”

What Parents Can Do

What can parents do to keep their children healthy? Johnston is an advocate for vaccines, and believes spending time with kids and letting them know they’re loved is the best medicine.

“People are faced with all kinds of challenges right now, and there’s so much separation. I think family dinners, where everybody sits down to the table, is one of the most important things you can do. If you can all sit down at the table to eat together, at least you’ve got some together time.”

As for taking care of ourselves, she has this advice: “Sit down and find out what makes you happy in your core, and then see if you can pursue it. For me, that was medicine. That’s what I knew I was supposed to be doing.

“You really have a couple of options.Either you can do something positive, or youcan let yourself be mired in ‘Oh woe is me. Ican’t do this.’ If you can change your mindset it makes a big difference.”

Johnston, who was recently named one of Simsbury’s Hometown Heroes, has many fond memories of her time as a pediatrician and is often spotted around town by her former patients or, more commonly, their parents. After retiring, she completed the Master Gardener program at UConn, joined the Garden Club in Simsbury, and became a volunteer at the Drake Hill Flower Bridge gardens.

“I feel there are still things I can give to people,” she says. “I just don’t give prescriptions. I give them flowers instead.”

Janice married the engineer Dick Johnston in 1973. They live in Simsbury and have a 50-year-old son, Jay, who runs a charity called Kits For Kids with his wife. We met at BeanZ and Co. in Avon, where she answered these “Coffee With” questions.

What do you like to do these days?

I like to go to different gardens with my friends. Sometimes I go to lunch with my friends.

Picking flowers is my favorite thing. I’ve raised a lot of flowers.

Are there any parallels you can draw between medicine and gardening?

I use gardening for medicine in a way. I make tiny bouquets and take them to friends who aren’t well, or friends in nursing homes.

What is something you’d like to learn?

I was thinking this morning that I should talk with one of the medical schools to see if they have a rotation in geriatrics and if I could apply to do that.

Outside of medicine and gardening, what is one of your talents that many people might not know about?

Birds. I spend a lot of time planting my garden, planning it for birds. I have water baths and a lot of bird feeders and bird houses.

And cooking. That’s one of the ways I take care of people. I recently had a friend who was very sick with a terrible sore throat, so I made her some custard. She said that was the only thing that she could eat.

What do you like to cook?

Pies, desserts. We just had a party last night with 10 people, and it was soup and pie.

What places in the area do you like to go?

Down to the bridge. We really enjoy walking in our neighborhood. We live in a place where you can hear the birds. We go to Wade’s in Bloomfield. Best corn in the valley.

What would you like to be remembered for?

Being a caring person and somebody who tried to do the best for everyone. VL