May 2002

Johnson “doctors up” personal success through volunteerism

Spokane physician Eric Johnson, ’72, considers volunteer service a personal obligation. He has served on 10 international missions with Healing the Children, an organization that coordinates medical volunteers from the United States to work in third world countries. In addition he is cofounder of the Spokane Scholars Foundation, which honors Spokane County’s high school academic leaders.

Johnson received his M.D. from the University of Washington, specializing in anesthesiology. In 1981, he settled in Spokane with his wife, Kim Whitney Johnson, ’72, an elementary school teacher, and opened a private practice at Deaconess Medical Center.

As a volunteer for Healing the Children, he has traveled to Guatemala, Mexico, Ethiopia, and, most recently, to Colombia to help provide medical care for children with congenital facial and cardiac abnormalities. Besides providing anesthesiology services, he has coordinated the missions, organizing teams of doctors, nurses, and technicians and shipping equipment to the locations.
“I have been blessed by my experiences with Healing the Children in very personal ways,” he says. “In Ethiopia, we met some children whose heart disease has made them frail and weak. However, when we saw them a year later, they had gained weight and energy, and they smiled more.”

For more than 10 years, Johnson also has been bringing smiles to the faces of some of Spokane’s top high school students. Annually, the Spokane Scholars Foundation recognizes a hundred academic finalists at a ceremony and awards six college scholarships to the most outstanding students. Currently vice president of the foundation, Johnson believes honoring the students is worth the time and effort.

“This is the first time some of these students have been recognized for their academic achievement. . . . Kids with perfect grade point averages and perfect S.A.T. scores deserve to be on pedestals. Those of us with Spokane Scholars have simply provided the pedestal.”

In 1995, Johnson received the Spokane County Medical Society Physician/Citizen of the Year award, and in 1999, his alma mater, Walla Walla High School, named him a Graduate of Distinction. He appreciates the recognition, but emphasizes what he believes is the true spirit of volunteerism:

“There are thousands of volunteers in each of our communities who go about giving without fanfare. For some reason, traveling overseas on medical missions attracts more attention. However, all of us who volunteer in our local or world community do it for the same reason: to improve the lives of others. In return, we feel good about donating our time and talents.”

— Mo Brady, ’03

An anesthesiologist, Eric Johnson, '72, left, helped treat these children and other young patients while serving on medical missions abroad with Healing the Children.