Meet Dr. Catherine Pechon, Madisonville’s newest family physician

Dr. Catherine Pechon recently opened a family medicine practice – treating all ages from 2 and older – in St. Tammany Health System’s Madisonville clinic at 1520 Highway 22. (Photo by Tim San Fillippo / STHS)

By Mike Scott, mscott@stph.com

Dr. Catherine Pechon is home.

She’s originally from Texas, mind you. And after getting her undergraduate degree at Tulane University in New Orleans – where she met her husband, incidentally – she got her medical degree from Texas A&M followed by a residency at Duke-Southern Regional AHEC in Fayetteville, N.C.

But when it came time for Dr. Pechon and her Army veteran husband to settle down following 10 years of military nomadism, they knew exactly where to go.

With his extended family already living in the area – and both Pechons being devoted Saints fans – they set a course for Madisonville.

“We knew that this is where we wanted to stay,” Dr. Pechon said. “We knew this is where we wanted to raise our kids.”

And now, in addition to caring for her own family – which includes three young children -- Dr.  Pechon is turning her attention to her new neighbors’ families.

Board-certified in family medicine and with interests in preventative healthcare and wellness, women’s health, and weight management, Pechon in July joined St. Tammany Health System’s new family medicine practice in Madisonville, at 1520 Highway 22.

For now, she’s sharing space with STHS’s Madisonville pediatrics clinic, which will be moving this fall to 71388 Highway 21, just south of the health system’s main hospital campus. When that happens, the Madisonville clinic – which will soon add a nurse practitioner to work alongside Pechon – will become a full-fledged family practice.

“In family medicine primary care, we see all ages: kids, adults, grandparents,” she said. “It’s kind of a one-stop shop.”

While that includes administering all manner of standard healthcare, Dr. Pechon is also equipped to perform minor outpatient procedures, which will save many patients a trip up the highway to Covington.

But while it might be about convenience for her patients, for her it’s all about the people for whom she’ll get to provide care.  

“That’s the thing that drew me to family medicine: the relationships you develop, seeing different generations of the same family,” she said. “That’s absolutely one of the things about family medicine that’s unique in a way. You build relationships. We see kids grow up and maybe see their kids when they start their own families.”

In fact, it’s exactly that family feel that sold her on joining the healthcare team at St. Tammany Health System in the first place.

“When I interviewed, you could really feel from the environment – both in the hospital and visiting the clinics – that there really is a sense of family here,” she said. “It’s such a great environment. People are happy to be where they are, there’s a focus on high-quality patient care, and that was very important to me. Seeing how people that have been here for years and years, or leave and come back – that says a lot.”

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Dr. Pechon is currently accepting new patients. To schedule an appointment with her, call 985-898-4001 or visit stph.org/schedule-now online.