Christian Health Care Center has welcomed a new psychologist to our team: Dr. Robert E. H. Johnson, who started providing psychology services to our CHCC residents in late September.
Johnson serves CHCC through his work at Senior Connections, a Washington-based organization that provides psychological and psychiatric services to people living in nursing homes and assisted living.
“I have greatly enjoyed working at CHCC,” Johnson said. “It is a joy to be here. The staff are mission focused and offer world class care for residents. There is tremendous interdisciplinary collaboration, and it is truly a privilege to be part of the team.”
That’s high praise coming from someone with Johnson’s experience. He earned his doctorate in counseling psychology from Oklahoma State University and has two master’s degrees — one in community counseling, and a second in family relations and child development. Before that, he earned a bachelor’s degree in theology, with a minor in psychology, from Oral Roberts University.
Johnson, who had a long career with the U.S. military as a clinical psychologist, most recently at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, has deep ties to the Lynden area. His great grandfather, Burt Pangborn, established the family homestead in north Whatcom County back in the 1800s, near what is now the intersection of Pangborn and Van Buren roads. When not providing counseling services to elders, Johnson has been toiling at the property clearing blackberries and getting the site ready to build a home — and maybe even raise sheep and goats there someday.
In his youth, Johnson spent a great deal of time working at the family farm, during his time off from his education at Nooksack Valley High School.
“I like to joke with the people here at Christian Health Care Center, many of whom are former farmers, that I may have helped them put their hay in back in the day,” Johnson said.
As a 6-foot-3-inch center, Johnson played on the state champion basketball team at NVHS back in 1974, his junior year. He remembers many fond rivalries among his friends at Lynden High School and Lynden Christian.
Not only does he have strong ties to the area, Johnson has familial ties to CHCC, too. After being injured in a car crash, his sister received care at CHCC many years ago, he said, and his mom also worked here at our Lynden care center as an LPN back in the 1970s.
“Faith and family are very important to me,” he said.
In addition to his work through Senior Connections, Johnson also works with the U.S. Army Reserve at the 801st Combat Support Hospital at Fort Sheridan, serving as adviser to the battalion commander regarding behavioral health clinical operations.
Previous to that, Johnson was a clinical psychologist and officer in charge of the behavioral health team at Troop Medical Clinic McGregor at Fort Bliss in Texas. He also has worked as a forensic neuropsychologist with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, among many other career highlights, and he served as a psychologist with the U.S. Army at various camps in Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq, going back to 2003.
He is a licensed psychologist in Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Washington and is affiliated with the International Neuropsychological Society, the National Academy of Neuropsychology and the National Register of Psychologists Health Service Providers.
CHCC is grateful that Dr. Johnson has chosen to return to his roots to serve the Lynden community. Our care team will facilitate referrals for residents who may benefit from counseling services.