For Dr. Gerard Hevern, timing was everything.
He’d hurry to your home for a house call. He juggled his time like a veteran circus performer, making sure he gave patients in his Allenstown examining room the time they needed, while never forgetting that others sat in the nearby waiting room, anxious for his help, too.
He split his time three ways, working as a primary-care physician for more than four decades, and helping patients with both pain management and addiction at Elliot Hospital in Manchester.
He made appointments for stubborn, nervous patients once they hit 50, making sure a colonoscopy would be incorporated into their routine to maintain good health. Whether they liked it or not.
He knew when it was time to use his other skills, like his bedside manner, when a diagnosis created stress in his patients.
And that heart attack he suffered last month? It had nothing to do with Hevern’s decision to retire, but the timing, at age 68, sure worked out well.
He told me at his Manchester home last week that he feels strong, and he was certainly healthy enough to attend a select board meeting last Monday, when a grateful town said thanks with a proclamation, set under glass.
“About a year ago I made the decision that I needed to slow down,” Hevern told me. “I really have three different jobs that I was doing. I’m only going to be working halftime now, then I’m going to fully retire in June.”
That’s the end of an era, which started in 1979 when a young stranger rode into a town that was medically underserved at the time and changed the area’s access to care. He met with senior citizens and other medical professionals, like the local pharmacist, just to introduce himself, get acclimated.
Once settled in with his wife, Donna, they raised their three children, now all in their 40s, before enjoying their six grandchildren. And Hevern cared for the rest of his family as well. The folks in town.
One was Scott McDonald, a member of the Allenstown Economic Development Committee. He helped organize the select board meeting to honor the good doctor. He had good reason, too, explaining in an email that his blood pressure was dangerously high 20 years ago after he had ignored his family history and later the warning signs. He said he was lucky he didn’t have a stroke.
“Dr. Hevern painstakingly reviewed my family history, prescribed the correct medication, adjusted the dosages when needed and followed up almost daily until my BP was back in the normal range,” McDonald wrote.
During an annual exam 10 years ago, McDonald said he “was scared to death” after receiving a worrisome diagnosis connected to his prostate.
“It was Dr. Hevern’s calm demeanor and reassurance that kept me on an even keel,” McDonald said.
And it was McDonald who, after turning 50, admitted that he had “intentionally ignored the first appointment the office had made for me” to check his prostate.
So his doctor re-scheduled, then called his patient and said, “8 a.m. on Monday. Don’t be late.”
“There are so many examples of Dr. Hevern being the complete physician,” McDonald said, “attending not only to our illnesses and injuries, but also to our emotional and psychological issues as well.”
McDonald’s wife, Cheryl, added in her own email that during, “each visit, he would always take time to talk with you to see how you were doing. Never rushed. Always professional and left you with a feeling that he truly cared about your welfare.”
He was engaging during our chat, a man with a full head of silver hair who oftentimes swept it to the side. He often looked hard at nothing in particular, his mind rewinding to a life of education, sports and, of course, medicine.
There were photos and coasters and the zip-up pullover he wore all, all saying ‘Harvard’ and showing the school’s logo. Soon, the conversation turned to football.
In the adjacent room, banquet programs and awards told you that Hevern was something special in high school. He attended St. Francis Prep in Brooklyn and earned the Sam Huff Scholarship Award, named after the all-star linebacker from the 1950s and ’60s, and given to the high school player in the state who best combined scholastics with athletics.
He was fast, saying he ran the 100-yard dash in 10 seconds flat, and strong, saying he could bench press between 270 and 300 pounds, despite weighing about 190 to 200 pounds himself.
“I was a very strong individual,” Hevern told me. “And I was gifted by being very fast.”
At Harvard, he said scouts from professional teams showed interest. He chose medicine instead, saying, “By the time I was in my junior year at Harvard, I wanted to go into medicine, so they stopped following me and concentrated on other candidates.”
Soon, after finishing his studies, the call came from a small New England town called Allenstown, where a doctor was needed and where “There hadn’t been a permanent position in that community for 20 years or so,” Hevern said.
He already loved New England, stemming from his Harvard days.
“New Hampshire was an opportunity to have a full spectrum for a practice,” Hevern said. “I delivered babies, I took care of the elderly, I did house calls, I did all of those things.
“New Hampshire is a place where I thought I would be able to develop those skills and have a good lifestyle, and it has fulfilled all of those.”
He had already planned on a June retirement when, on Feb. 5, he went to see his doctor. His chest hurt. He was wheezing, tired. An angiogram showed an artery – the major artery streaming blood to the heart – was 99% blocked. He had had a heart attack.
“More often than not, if that’s the diagnosis, it’s sudden death,” Hevern said, “Most of those diagnoses are made postmortem. When I finally woke up, I realized that I was fortunate to have survived that event.”
Within days, Hevern felt stronger. Strong enough, in fact, to attend last Monday’s select board meeting, giving residents a chance to say goodbye. And thank you. Nearly every seat was taken.
“People just love him in town and he is a great asset and someone who will be missed,” said attorney Maureen Higham, an Allenstown select board member.
Jim Normand works at the same law firm as Higham. Hevern has been his primary care physician for 20 years, and he’s been Normand’s ally since the start, always standing in his corner, fighting against the bullying tactics employed by insurance companies.
“He would always push back in favor of his patients,” Normand said. “The (insurance) companies would limit the services a doctor could prescribe, but he was still in my corner, and I didn’t always feel that way with other doctors.”
The doctor is in these days, part-time, for four more months. Then he and his wife will travel and spend more time with their grandkids.
The time is right.
“I feel much better than I have in a long time,” Hevern said.