We are so excited to recognize Dr. Danielle McMechan as our September Member of the Month. She is a native of Canada who fell in love with the culture and atmosphere of south Louisiana and now calls Baton Rouge home.

Dr. McMechan grew up in rural Manitoba, Canada on a grain and cattle farm with her parents, Tony & Debbie, and siblings, Justin & Elizabeth. Her parents still farm in Canada, and she proudly has a section of native prairie that has never seen a cultivator.

Dr. McMechan described how life on a farm helped her choose medicine. She stated, “Growing up on a farm, the circle of life never ceases. We would help with calving in the spring, countered by the constant need to provide medical care for our cattle, horses, sheep, pigs and dogs that became ill. Some might say that this will make you numb to the experience of life and death, however for me it amplified the need to cherish every moment. None of my family members had pursued a career in medicine in the past but have all been a source of unending support and inspiration.”

Dr. McMechan was the inaugural fellow of the LSU Health New Orleans Hospice & Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program. We asked her what led her to enter a palliative care fellowship. She stated, “I worked as a Hospitalist for several years after completing residency which was incredibly rewarding. However, I kept finding myself drawn to situations where serious illness was looked at in a more holistic light. It was refreshing to offer patients and families an opportunity to discuss the way their diagnosis and prognosis affected every element of their lives, rather than just the immediacy of their hospitalization. I had the great fortune of being the inaugural fellow at the LSUHSC Hospice & Palliative Medicine Fellowship program in Baton Rouge. There I was able to learn from some of the most thoughtful and genuine providers in the field, whom I am now proud to call colleagues.”

Dr. McMechan currently has a few different roles. She is a Palliative Care Physician with Our Lady of the Lake in Baton Rouge where she sees patients admitted to the hospital and in the clinic. She continued, “We have started a unique program called the Palliative Cardiology Clinic. Here we are able to offer palliative services to patients with advanced heart failure and other advanced cardiac issues. We see patients every 2 weeks with any palliative needs from symptom management to goals of care conversations. I also work as the Medical Director for The Hospice of Baton Rouge, a non-profit hospice company here in Baton Rouge with a large footprint offering hospice and palliative care services.

We asked Dr. McMechan what her favorite aspect of family medicine is. She stated, “My favorite aspect of family medicine has always been continuity. I truly appreciate getting to know a patient and their family. That role is different for me now, and often encompasses watching a family go through a trial together. Caregiver support is an integral part of palliative care, something that came naturally to me as a family doctor because of our training to support not only the patient but their entire family unit. The ability people have to stand together during a difficult time always overwhelms me.

She continued to talk about her style of practice, “When I was still in high school, my family doctor in Manitoba told me that he saw himself as a “jack of all trades”. My own practice today embodies that same philosophy. A day in the hospital can include trauma patients, patients requiring ECMO support, those with advanced cancer or people experiencing severe and uncontrolled pain. All the while I have hospice patients with neurologic concerns, pediatric patients with families struggling to make impossible decisions, young patients with severe wounds requiring attention multiple times a day, and any number of other calls I might receive from the incredible hospice team members. Palliative and hospice care often involves creative strategizing to find ways to ensure patients can have wishes fulfilled, such as being able to spend the remainder of their lives in their home. The broad scope of family medicine allows me to find solutions where there might otherwise have been no way to successfully honor those wishes. I love knowing that no matter who walks through the door, I can call upon my training to guide me.”

Dr. McMechan met her husband, Asif, in medical school and welcomed their beautiful son, Kahlil, in 2020. Away from medicine, her family likes to go to the movies, go on long walks with their beagle, travel to Canada to visit family, spend time at the Swamp Center here in Baton Rouge, have a day in the pool, or just curl up on the couch with a good book – they are reading Charlotte’s Web together right now!

Help us congratulate Dr. Danielle McMechan as a September Member of the Month!