Good Neighbor Podcast: Frisco

EP #48: Building Trust in Pediatric Care: MaryEllen Cavalier's Journey with Joy and Crown Pediatric Specialists

• Sophia Yvette

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What makes MaryEllen Cavalier with Joy and Crown Pediatric Specialists a good neighbor?

What does it take to establish a family-run medical practice that serves the community with care and integrity? MaryEllen Cavalier from Joy and Crown Pediatric Specialists in Frisco joins us to share her inspiring journey from academia to running a thriving pediatric practice alongside her family. In this episode, we uncover how MaryEllen and her family have built a "mom and pop" operation in the medical field, navigating the unique challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and battling the wave of misinformation that has bred public distrust in healthcare. Hear firsthand how her commitment to honesty and transparency is mending bridges and restoring faith among patients.

Listeners will gain valuable insights into the specialized pediatric services offered at Joy and Crown, including their compassionate care for children with cancer and blood disorders. MaryEllen also addresses common misconceptions about COVID-19 and vaccines, underscoring the importance of accurate information for public health. Beyond her professional endeavors, MaryEllen shares heartwarming stories about her two rescue dogs and the indispensable support she receives from her family. This episode is a heartfelt celebration of MaryEllen Cavalier's dedication to pediatric care and her significant contributions to the community. Don't miss this chance to learn from a true advocate for health and family values.

To learn more about Joy and Crown Pediatric Specialists go to:
https://www.friscopediatricspecialists.com/

Joy and Crown Pediatric Specialists

469-213-7633


Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Sophia Yvette.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a pediatrics practice? Surprisingly, one may be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to your neighbor, mary Ellen Cavalier, with Joy and Crown Pediatric Specialists. Mary Ellen, how are you doing today? I'm doing great. How about yourself? I'm great. We're excited to learn all about you and your practice. Tell us a bit about Joy and Crown Pediatric Specialists.

Speaker 3:

Well, it's hard to sum it all up, but I like to think of it as truly a labor of love. The whole family has been involved from the beginning. When you think about a mom and pop kind of business, that's really what our medical practice is like. My practice manager is my sister. My mother, nani, used to come in and help out she still does a little bit here and there and then my dad, poppy. He drops in from time to time just to make sure everybody's doing okay. But we started back in 2014, and we wanted to be here in Frisco, our own hometown, and we love the area here. It's very family oriented, very family friendly, and we wanted to be that presence in kids' lives, that kind of a fixture, someplace where they could go, where they feel valued, while we tackle some of the hard stuff too, some of the medical issues at the same time.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome. And what did you have a background in previous to starting this business?

Speaker 3:

I'm a little bit unusual in that I'm double boarded. I'm a board certified pediatrician but I'm also board certified in pediatric hematology, oncology. So I'd say the practice is about 80% general pediatrics, the other 20% is kids that have cancer or blood disorders.

Speaker 3:

And what are the myths or misconceptions in your industry. I think, since 2020, the medical industry at large has struggled a lot with, I think, a general feeling of distrust. I think 2020 was such a crazy year. There was so much misinformation about COVID, covid-related information, some of which was true, some of it wasn't, and I think now what we're dealing with is people being really unsure. They're unsure about whether to vaccinate their kids. They're unsure about who they can trust.

Speaker 3:

Frankly, there are a lot of people presenting themselves as medical authorities, but a lot of times sad but true there was an ulterior motive. So what we're trying to do to combat that is just to be honest, to be honest with our patient families. If they have questions about something, I'm going to be the first to tell them If I know the answer. If I don't know the answer, I'm going to own up to that. I'm going to say I don't know. It's a good question. I don't know, but I'll find out. I'll do my best to find out. So I think it's just going to take time. It's going to take time to settle and for all of us as a community to process everything that's happened. But I'm also excited because I think that, as time goes on. I mean we've learned a lot, and I think it's an opportunity to build bridges.

Speaker 2:

And what is the biggest misconception about COVID, would you say as a pediatrician?

Speaker 3:

I think a lot of it comes down to vaccination. I was very excited when COVID vaccine first came out. It sounded like the sun, moon and stars. So you get vaccinated, you're not going to contract COVID, you're not going to transmit COVID, you're not going to die of COVID. And then, as time went by, we realized, oh yeah, you can still get COVID even though you've been vaccinated. And oh, wait, yeah, you can still transmit it. And I think that you know people took from that. Wait a minute, maybe we shouldn't have faith in a lot of the vaccines that we've put faith in, and I mean that's unfortunate, because a lot of the vaccines we have really are very important and I'm old enough to remember some childhood diseases that we really don't see anymore, that were very serious before we had widespread vaccination against them.

Speaker 2:

And outside of work. What do you do for fun?

Speaker 3:

I spend a lot of time with my two little fur babies. I have two little rescue dogs. I've had them for six years now and they are sunshine.

Speaker 2:

That's cute. What type of dogs are they?

Speaker 3:

no-transcript.

Speaker 2:

Well, let's go ahead and change gears for a second. Can you describe one hardship or life challenge? You personally rose above and can now say because of it, you're better and stronger For you. When I say that, what comes to mind?

Speaker 3:

I think there's always the fear of the unknown and I really really loved practicing medicine within an academic context. I was always at an academic center until 2013. Center until 2013. And I was interested in being in private practice. But I was really scared too because it was definitely a change and there's still times now when I think about.

Speaker 3:

You know, when I was in academia there was a lot of interaction with colleagues. We would have roundtable discussions. There's not as much of that when you're in private practice. I mean, I serve on a committee and I do look forward to meeting with my fellow physicians once a month when we get together and we talk about interesting things. But just making that leap from going from academia to private practice was really scary. I don't regret it for a second. It was the right thing to do. But there's that initial first year when you're building a medical practice. You don't know what's going to happen and it just took a lot of prayer, a lot of faith and really hard work. But I can truly say I love what I do. I love going to work every day. Wouldn't trade it for anything.

Speaker 2:

And what helped you get through that tough time of making that transition.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely my family. They've been with me every step of the way, absolutely my family. They've been with me every step of the way, even during the roughest times, the dark times. I get home and think, oh man, is this really going to get off the ground? Where are we headed? Are we still going to be here in the next six months? And I have to say, my folks were always there for me. And do you want to talk? What can we do to help? They were always willing, they still are willing to step in and help, however they can.

Speaker 2:

And Mary Ellen, please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about Joy and Crown Pediatric Specialists about Joy and Crown Pediatric Specialists.

Speaker 3:

I'm hoping that they'll remember that we really work hard to be in partnership with our patient families. We never want to be someone who, like this is how it has to be, or we don't want it to be that kind of a relationship. We want families to feel that they can ask us even the hard questions. We want families to feel like they can trust us. We want them to feel that they're being treated as if they were our own family members, as if they were our own family members.

Speaker 3:

I was very blessed as a young child to have several people in my life who, during that snapshot in time when I was interacting with them, they truly made me feel like I was the most important person in their life, and I want to be able to do that too. I want these kids to see how valued they are and what they can do with their lives, but at the same time, I want us to be in a position where, if there's something troubling that comes up, if they've got a complicated medical issue, we want families to realize that we're there for them and we will partner with them to work through it and get them some answers.

Speaker 2:

And how can our listeners learn more about Joy and Crown Pediatric Specialists?

Speaker 3:

They are welcome to visit our website called Joy and Crown Pediatric Specialists.

Speaker 2:

Well, Mary Ellen Cavalier, I really appreciate you being on the show. We wish you and your practice the best moving forward.

Speaker 3:

Thank you very much. Thank you for having me on the show.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpfriscocom. That's gnpfriscocom, that's GNPFriscocom, or call 469-221-9345.