By Theresa Java
Dr. Joanne Mahoney has been practicing Internal Medicine for 30 years now. She took the slow route through medical school; first starting out as a medical technician, then went on to become a physician’s assistant, and then decided to become a medical doctor.
She’s the medical director with Hospice VNA, the Rural Health Network in Key West, the Plantation Key Nursing Center and Key West Health and Rehabilitation. Mahoney said that nurses are her “best friends,” and without them and other support staff, she couldn’t do what she does.
“We live in a very giving community,” Dr. Mahoney said.
Dr. Mahoney spends a weekend a month down there to accommodate her many jobs. And she’s also an avid angler and has had the same fishing mate and friend since Coral Shores High School. Yes, she is a true Conch.
1. What inspired you to become a doctor? My family doctor as a child and my father as a teen. Bonus that it’s a recession-proof profession!
2. What’s the biggest fish you have caught? I’ve caught a 50-pound sailfish but I lost a 100-pounder on the line though.
3. Are you squeamish when having your blood drawn? No, but I hate shots — at least it’s over quickly though.
4. What’s the last play you saw? “Naked Boys Singing.” It was hysterical!
5. Top three favorite albums? Moody Blues’ “Question of Balance” definitely, “Stairway to Heaven,” and any Kenny G album.
6. What is your favorite car aside from an Accord? I’d take a Jaquar, XJE. They’re really sleek looking.
7. Favorite movie? “Gone With The Wind” or “Shawshank Redemption,” that is a good one. It’s about being good to people and having it come back to you later in life.
8. Last book you read? I only read on vacation. But it was “Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World.”
9. Favorite gift? A painting of an angry cat that’s in the front office. It was given to me by a patient.
10. Favorite restaurant in Key West? Mangia, Mangia!
11. Favorite restaurant in the Upper Keys? Every single one of them since I don’t have time to cook often, which I do love.
12. Best vacation? Cat Island with my friends who live there.
13. What scares you? Being helpless to change an outcome for a patient. I wouldn’t say scared really, but sad.
14. What always makes you happy? I love my pets. My animals – they are always there for me.
15. What’s your favorite “transplanted plant?” I’m a transplant specialist, my China berry tree.
16. Favorite guilty pleasure? Ice cream.
17. Coffee or tea? Green tea.
18. Do you have a health regimen? Swimming and a different daily exercise.
19. If you could perpetually be any age, which age? I would be 50 — old enough to know better and still young enough to enjoy all life has to offer.
Finish this sentence.
20. When I go, I will go … I will go with the knowledge that I did my best in all the circumstances of my life. I hope God has a nice suite for me.
