Brett Call, D.O. ('91), (left) and Terry Johnson, D.O. ('91) (right) are thanked
by residents of Chiriqui Province, Panama, during a recent medical mission for the
Ohio Army National Guard.  In addition to screening nearly 6,000 people, the two
physicians distributed donated sports equipment to local youth.

This article originally appeared in the September/October 2003 issue of Rounds

Two Alumni find much in common in far-away places

by Jason Lovins

Two alumni, Terry Johnson, D.O. (’91), and Brett Call, D.O. (’91), who kept encountering each other during their school years have discovered in their professional lives that they were destined to make a difference together.

After Call and Johnson graduated medical school, they found themselves in the same internship and residency at Doctors Hospital in Columbus.

Both became practicing physicians in southern Ohio after receiving their degrees. Johnson is an assistant dean for the Centers for Osteopathic Research and Education and family practice residency director at Southern Ohio Medical Center. The residency operates from a rural clinic in Lucasville.

Call is the director of emergency medicine at Pike County Hospital.

Quite serendipitously, they found that they had the Guard in common as well: Johnson is the commander of the Ohio Army National Guard Medical Command, and Call is deputy commander.

Now Johnson is the first D.O. to ever hold the top position in the Ohio Guard’s medical force. This is the first time both of the top positions occupied by D.O.s.

In early April, both men ended up in the Chiriqui Province of Panama in Central America on a humanitarian mission to bring health care to village and mountain people.

 “Over the course of nine days, we treated almost 6,000 people,” Johnson says.

“Natives from the mountains walked as much as 11 hours to see us at two different sites. One of those sites we had to be flown into by helicopter.”

Johnson and Call were accompanied by a nurse practitioner and Second Lieutenant Sean Stiltner, a second-year OU-COM student. Of three other physicians involved in the mission, two were also D.O.s. One of these was Captain Chris Coulson, D.O. (’01).

Johnson and Call have participated in other events where the Guard was needed, such as the spring floods of 1997 and the Lucasville prison riot.

“We have been best friends since residency,” Johnson says. “It is just amazing that our lives have followed such similar paths. It’s almost like we are twins. We both are FP certified, and although Brett is also certified in EM, I worked as an emergency physician for the first few years of my practice. We both drive pickup trucks. We both live in a rural area. We both have four kids, and around both of our houses you can’t take a step without bumping into a golden retriever. It just goes on and on, and it’s not as if we get on the phone and ask each other what we are thinking about doing next.”

Of all the things they have done together in the Guard, says Johnson, the experience of helping these Panamanians was one of the most rewarding.

“The Ngabe Bugle Indians of Chiriqui Province were wonderful people. I am so glad to have had the privilege of serving them,” says Johnson.

“It’s great that we medical types were able to partner with the Guard engineers, who did so much to improve the physical infrastructure of this remote region. It is very clear that most of their health issues would not be there if they had appropriate water and sewage systems. Brett and I, and indeed, everyone in the command, are looking forward to doing similar missions in the future.”

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