Ep. 43 - An Insider’s View: An Insider’s View: A Pediatric Nurse Practitioner’s Reflections as a Palliative Care Clinician, Caregiver, and Mother

Join us for an insightful episode featuring seasoned Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Meggan Mikal-DeMont DNP, APRN-FPA, PCNS-BC, CPNP-PC, CHPPN ®, FPCN® with more than10 years of experience in palliative care and pain management. In this whole-hearted interview, she reflects on her husband’s nine-month experience with Stage IV colorectal cancer and offers an insider’s perspective as both a palliative care clinician and caregiver- how as a couple they navigated the miracle they were hoping for within the system, how these experiences have transformed Meggan's clinical practice, and how life has unfolded since then. Listen for what the health care teams did well, areas where they could improve, and how administrators can champion hospice and palliative care services to make end of life easier for patients and their families.

Meggan Mikal DNP, APRN-FPA, PCNS-BC, CPNP-PC, CHPPN®, FPCN®Meggan Mikal-DeMont is the nurse practitioner of Pediatric Advance Care Team - Palliative & Pain at Advocate Children’s Hospitals in Oak Lawn, IL.

Pursuing her interest in working with families that have children living with complex and series illnesses, Meggan has completed a fellowship in pediatric neurodevelopmental disabilities through the Illinois Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) program. She also has completed a fellowship in pediatric palliative and hospice nursing through University of Illinois in Chicago and through the Coleman Foundation. This led her to also become a board-certified pediatric hospice and palliative nurse in 2009.

Meggan, along with an interdisciplinary committee, started the Pediatric Palliative and Supportive Care program at Advocate Children’s Hospital - Oak Lawn in October of 2012.  Her background as a pediatric intensive care nurse is where her love and passion for working with children with critical and chronic illness grew.  She is an End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) trainer and received that training at St. Jude’s Hospital in Memphis, TN.

Meggan is an active member of the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA) where she serves on the Advocacy and Legislative Committee. She participated as both an item writer and chair for the pediatric hospice and palliative nurse exam from 2010-2016. Meggan was also recently inducted as a Fellow of Palliative and Hospice Nursing (FPCN®) and is so thrilled to be recognized for her true passion and purpose to this field. 

Becoming a widow and a solo parent in 2017 after her husband Andrew died from advanced colorectal cancer has only grown her passion for delivering and advocating for nothing short of the best delivery of palliative and hospice care. Meggan is blessed to be given a new chapter and now lives with her husband Nate, eight year old son Andy, bonus seven year old daughter Elizabeth, and two and a half year old rescue dog Zoey, in Plainfield. 

Within palliative care, Meggan has a strong interest in the areas of patient-provider boundaries, patient and family advocacy, and the delivery of diverse, equitable, and inclusive care. 

Meggan believes that caring for children with serious illnesses truly starts at the grassroots of relationships. She believes that the family is the center of the care being provided and it is a relationship built on partnership. Helping children live life to their fullest ability without burdensome symptoms is something that she strives to achieve each day.

Brett Snodgrass, DNP, FNP-C, ACHPN®, FAANP Dr. Brett Snodgrass has been a registered nurse for 28 years and a Family Nurse Practitioner for 18 years, practicing in multiple settings, including family practice, urgent care, emergency departments, administration, chronic pain and palliative medicine. She is currently the Operations Director for Palliative Medicine at Baptist Health Systems in Memphis, TN. She is board certified with the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. She is also a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and an Advanced Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse. She completed a Doctorate of Nursing Practice at the University of Alabama – Huntsville. She is a nationally recognized nurse practitioner speaker and teacher. Brett is a chronic pain expert, working for more than 20 years with chronic pain and palliative patients in a variety of settings. She is honored to be the HPNA 2025 podcast host. She is married with two daughters, two son in laws, one grandson, and now an empty nest cat. She and her family are actively involved in their church and she is an avid reader.