Heroes of West Texas Spotlight: Dr. Lara Johnson

Dr. Lara Johnson: Division Chief for Pediatric Hospital at Texas Tech Health Sciences Center. She was appointed Chief of Staff for Covenant Children’s in February of 2020.

“In the beginning we were so uncertain about everything, and we were trying to establish the right protocols. We wanted to keep our patients and staff as protected as possible without a lot of clarity and knowledge. I was trying to figure out how to proceed as a leader at the hospital and help communicate and try to be a calming perspective to help others navigate these challenges.

There have been certain aspects of my professional life that have been uniquely challenging and caused rapid growth and those skills were useful when dealing with the pandemic and the health care system. My team does a really great job of being present and communicating and supporting each other. Those traits and skills served us well.

I have a premature sense that we’ve come out on the other side of things. After being vaccinated and my husband being vaccinated, I didn’t realize I had a small sense of fear for myself that was greatly diminished.

This past year has showed me professionally and personally that we can do hard things and come together to overcome challenges. There has been a lot of creative problem solving even when the deck was stacked in the other direction. We learned a lot as a health care system. As a team, we learned to communicate during crisis and work together. In some ways we are better for it because we are better able to deal with the next challenge we face.”