There are certain truths we hold to be self-evident, and this is surely one: Dr. Seth McVea loves his job.
The newest member of St. Tammany Pediatrics, the full-service pediatrics practice of St. Tammany Health System, he makes that abundantly clear the way he lights up when asked about his new professional home.
And the way he smiles when talking about it. And laughs. And embraces costume-wearing like the South Louisiana native he is. (He has a hot dog costume. He has a cowboy costume. He has a pumpkin costume. He has a lot of costumes.)
“I just love pediatrics, and I love it more the more I do it,” Dr. McVea said. “I just love working with children. They are the funniest people on the planet.”
In some ways, it’s a job he’s been working toward since he was a kid growing up in Franklinton.
“I grew up with a brother with special needs, and I think that was one of the original things that led me to medicine, and pediatrics specifically,” Dr. McVea said. “It’s kind of been my driving force throughout college and medical school.”
Following graduation from LSU Medical School and a pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital New Orleans – which, in a collision of medicine and romance, is where his wife, Dr. Mary-Elizabeth Lago, also served her pediatric residency – he quickly realized that St. Tammany was the perfect fit for him.
Part of that were the assurances he got from Dr. Gabrielle Givens, one of his best friends from his high school days and a family medicine practitioner whose office is in the same Mandeville clinic as Dr. McVea's.
Just as much, though, is the sense of community and the family focus on which St. Tammany Health System had prided itself since its founding in 1954.
“When you’re chosen to be a pediatrician by a family, you see them through all the stages of life,” he said. “You see them through sickness and well visits, getting a driver’s license, losing a first tooth. There are a lot of other pediatrics practices out there that are focused on pumping up the numbers, and that’s not the vibe I got from St. Tammany. They are a community-based pediatrics practice, and that was important to me.
“As a pediatrician, I want to be seen as a part of these peoples’ lives. I love the bonds I get to have with my patients and their families.”
Which helps explain the smiles, the laughs, the costumes and the genuine joy he gets from comforting and caring for Northshore families.
“And, really,” he said, “if you’re not having fun at work, what are you doing there?”
Dr. Seth McVea is based out of St. Tammany Pediatrics’ Mandeville clinic at 201 St. Ann Drive. He is now accepting new patients. Call (985) 773-1600 to make an appointment.