Caring for Her Community: Taylor Micheroni, MD’s Role as a Physician Anesthesiologist
After completing her residency training, Taylor Micheroni, MD was ready to begin practicing – she just needed to find the right spot for her growing family.
“I grew up on the Cape and my husband grew up in Sharon,” she said. “We had our son and we were trying to figure out where we wanted to settle. We had always said we’d love to end up on the South Shore.”
That’s exactly where they ended up, with Dr. Micheroni joining South Shore Hospital’s Anesthesiology Team and her family settling in Norwell.
“We’ve really found our home down here,” she said.
Becoming part of an experienced, welcoming team
Prior to joining the South Shore Hospital staff, Dr. Micheroni held the Department of Anesthesiology in high regard.
“It was always such a well-respected department,” she said.
Many of her anesthesia colleagues, including physician anesthesiologists, certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs), and anesthesia techs, have decades of experience in the field and are always willing to share their knowledge.
“If you come in having a little bit less experience with something, you can learn from the people on your team,” she said. “That’s something I like about working in the care team model: we always learn a lot from each other.”
That wealth of experience helps the team handle the wide variety of cases that come through South Shore Hospital’s complex surgical platform – which appeals to Dr. Micheroni.
“It’s a very interesting part of the breadth of our practice,” she said. “One day, you might do several different short orthopedic surgeries, largely done using regional anesthetic techniques, and the next day may be an all-day brain tumor resection.”
South Shore Hospital’s varied caseload means Micheroni and her colleagues on the surgical team need to be ready for anything.
“You really have to be a true general anesthesiologist,” she said. “This means you have to be comfortable pivoting from a one-year-old to a 101-year-old. Sometimes I take care of those two patients in the same day, right next door to each other.”
Managing pain and keeping patients safe
Physician anesthesiologists care for patients in a number of different settings across South Shore Health, including at South Shore Hospital and at the Pain Management Clinic at 2 Pond Park in Hingham.
Depending on the setting, the tactics may differ – some cases may require general anesthesia, while others require more localized pain management.
The goal, however, remains the same.
“I tell my patients that my only job is to keep them safe and comfortable,” Dr. Micheroni said. “I take that very seriously.”
Physician anesthesiologists care for patients during surgical procedures of all kinds but have a particularly strong presence in South Shore Hospital’s Birthing Unit.
There, anesthesiologists help patients feel more comfortable during those joyous-but-anxious moments before and during childbirth.
Anesthesiologists perform a number of different interventions in the Birthing Unit, ranging from epidurals for laboring moms to general anesthesia for some C-sections.
Being a part of these special moments never gets old.
“It’s rewarding to go see a patient after a C-section or an epidural and have them say, ‘I was in so much pain and you were able to help me,” Micheroni said.
Welcoming the role of community caregiver
As a South Shore resident, Dr. Micheroni embraces the idea of caring for members of her own community.
“It’s an honor to have that trust placed in you,” she said. “I love living where I work. It’s such a great community to be a part of.”
Dr. Micheroni is a mother herself – in fact, her youngest, Annabelle, was born at South Shore Hospital last summer, where her anesthesia colleagues were part of her care team.
Her role as an anesthesiologist at South Shore Hospital has allowed her to connect with her community in a deeper way.
“I’ll take my son to swimming lessons and run into one of our labor and delivery nurses or see someone who was my patient,” she said. “Little anecdotes like that are so wonderful – they help you realize that you’re serving your own community. That’s important to me.”
Luigi makes work a family affair
While Dr. Micheroni is known around South Shore Hospital for being an excellent caregiver and colleague, she’s also known for something else: being Luigi’s mom.
Luigi, a Newfie, is the Micheroni Family's dog. He’s also a certified therapy dog who regularly spreads cheer during visits to colleagues at South Shore Hospital.
Since he was a puppy, Luigi frequently attracted attention from passers-by due to his size and friendly, laid-back demeanor.
“We lived in Boston, and we joked that it took us 15 minutes to walk a block because everyone would stop us,” she said. “We thought ‘hey, maybe there’s something more to this,’ and we had heard about therapy dogs in the past.”
Luigi completed a nationally established training program after his first birthday and began conducting visits at Tufts Medical Center, where Dr. Micheroni was completing her residency, shortly thereafter.
“People responded really, really well to him,” she said. “He really thrived in that environment. He loves the attention. There’s something about his demeanor and size that attracts people.”
When Dr. Micheroni accepted her position at South Shore Hospital, she knew she wanted to bring Luigi into the fold.
“I immediately reached out to our volunteer coordinator to figure out if we could work Luigi into our program here,” she said. “We got the paperwork all set up and started visiting shortly after I started working, which was great.”
Since then, Luigi has become a South Shore Hospital celebrity, regularly visiting colleagues across the Hospital and drawing crowds wherever he goes.
“He’s a special dog,” said Micheroni. “It’s really fun just to walk in with him and have so many people say, ‘that made my day.’ If you can lift anyone’s spirits, it’s totally worth his visit.”
Luigi frequently visits Dr. Micheroni’s colleagues in the Anesthesia Office and makes regular trips to visit colleagues in Maternity, the Cardiac Catheterization Lab, and elsewhere.
“I’m happy for him to make a name for himself,” said Micheroni. “I’m able to share him with the community where we’re really building our lives.”
