Lizabeth Saint-Hilaire, M.D.

Some people are born to do what they do for a living. For OMNI Healthcare Dr. Lizabeth Saint-Hilaire becoming a doctor seemed like it was inevitable from birth. Born to parents Jorge and Irene, both physicians, she not only inherited their smarts but their compassion and caring for others as well. They all knew she’d likely be a doctor one day, but even through medical school she just wasn’t exactly sure what area of specialty. That path was hers to choose.

“So going into medical school I had this idea that I was going to be a family doctor like my dad was. And I had all these ideas about how much prevention you can do as a doctor and keeping people healthy and initially I thought I don’t know . . . Pediatrics? Kids cry so much and they’re so loud and uncooperative. But quickly after doing my Pediatrics rotation I realized that they’re actually a lot more cooperative and pleasant and nice than adults! I could never go back to adults. My path was set from then on.”

Dr. Saint-Hilaire graduated medical school at the University of Miami and went on to complete her residency at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. She’s now a mom of two and empathizes with young parents.

“I enjoy that in this field particularly you can be light-hearted and you can definitely have a lot of fun on the job. Kids are very spontaneous and they make me laugh and if you walk through the hallways you’ll probably hear my not-so-quiet-laugh echoing through the hallways because it’s just a fun job.”

While she clearly enjoys her job, she takes her responsibility as a doctor very seriously. On rare occasions, she has to deliver a prognosis that can change everything for a patient’s family. “That’s definitely one of the hardest parts about being a doctor, says Dr. Saint-Hilaire. It’s dealing with the difficult situation of having to give bad news. You know, luckily in this setting that I’m in I get to know the families really well so that helps because I already have a relationship with them. And so we can get through it together. Luckily with children this is not something that happens a lot so that is also one of the reasons why I like this field.”

Dr. Saint-Hilaire credits her staff with helping make visits to her office a positive experience. “We try to be accessible all the time to our patients. Whether it’s a phone call, there’s always a person that is answering the phone on the other side and they will get the message to me right away. We always have slots for sick visits or any immediate concerns that the families might have. And we also offer early hours for parents that need to come in before school starts or before work starts.”

Melissa Balcombe is a medical secretary in Dr. Saint Hilaire’s office who says the staff works very hard accommodating patients for same day appointments and arranging quick referrals to specialists. “Dr. Saint Hilaire is a very special doctor, a very fun-loving, kind-hearted person. She has this infectious laugh, every time the patient goes into the room, you just hear that little giggle and you know that they’re in capable hands. She really does care about them. She bonds with her patients. Even when the parents come in and they are a little upset, she finds a way to just take care of them and put the patients first.”

“I think the best part about it is getting to meet patients when they’re little, little babies and watching them grow, knowing the families and seeing the families grow as well. Because once I know them, the visits are almost effortless. It’s just building on what you already have,” says Dr. Saint-Hilaire.

That relationship with families has been important throughout the pandemic. “We’ve had to make a lot of changes. COVID has flipped our world upside down. But we’ve adjusted to it so one of the things that we do is we separate well visits from sick visits. We do respiratory visits at the end of the morning or end of the day to try to keep them isolated from our healthy kids. We have had to start wearing masks with every single visit and only one parent is allowed in the room at the time because we want to decrease exposure and minimize traffic coming in and out of the office. We have to sanitize everything multiple times a day, even the waiting room, which we try to keep with one person or one family at a time.”

With all the changes brought on by the pandemic, Dr. Saint-Hilaire reminds families to get outside for some sunlight and physical activity. “I also encourage the parents to keep up with all of the regular medical visits and make sure that they’re coming in for their preventive visits, their well-visits, and that they’re keeping up with all of the regular vaccines so that we don’t end up having outbreaks of other illnesses or other health problems being isolated at home.”

Check-ups and vaccines are just a few of the services provided at her OMNI Healthcare office in Palm Bay. The practice offers several others:

• Sports physicals
• EKGs
• Lead and hemoglobin screening
• On-site lab
• On-site Radiology services including x-ray and ultrasound
• Splinting of simple fractures
• Laceration repair with stitches or skin glue
• Ear piercing for infants 3 months to 12 months
• Several office staffers and Dr. Saint-Hilaire are also fluent in English and Spanish.

Dr. Saint-Hilaire’s OMNI Healthcare office is located at 6100 Minton Road NW, upstairs in Suite 105 in Palm Bay. For more information or to make an appointment call (321) 308-0601.