|
About AnitaFamily Link founder Anita Desai earned her masters degree in speech language pathology from the University of Arizona and primarily worked with stroke and dementia patients in long term care facilities during her career. Then a car accident in 2012 made it impossible for her aging parents to return to their home of 40 years in New York, so Anita moved them to an assisted living in Orlando to be closer to her. It was then that she began to realize how much work it was to “manage” an assisted living facility. In March 2017, Anita received her certification in Florida State Regulations for Assisted Living Facilities.
She saw the importance of having a physical presence at the facility, interacting regularly with the staff, attending doctor appointments and getting to the ER before the ambulance. Her dad had Parkinson’s and was at high risk of falling, going to the ER often, and she began to feel like she couldn’t leave Orlando. Time away meant asking a friend to take on the responsibility of her parents. She wished she had someone else to be the “business manager” for her parents so she could be their daughter again. She often wrestled with feeling burned out and guilty. |
Our History |
In late 2015, Anita’s father died and she was often called upon to help others. She began assisting a couple neighbors being treated for cancer with family elsewhere. At first she just drove them to the appointments. Soon she realized that the cancer treatments and complexity of the terminology and trial and error methods were too much for her neighbors to process. She started accompanying them during the appointments.
Anita provided the doctors with an accurate reporting of time lines and symptoms. It helped the doctors have a more complete picture as they tried to manage their patients’ care. She took notes for her neighbors and followed up to help them adhere to the doctor’s advice. Her years of training and familiarity with medical terminology became helpful to translate “doctor speak” to her neighbors. Anita facilitated conversations with family members to let them know the true picture when her neighbors minimized their health concerns, afraid to worry their children. The families were able to get involved, help their parents with decision making and know when to come in person. Following these experiences and seeing the gap in services to the assisted living population, Anita started Family Link. We want to bring families peace of mind by providing eyes and ears, hands and feet. Let us be your Link here in Orlando so that you can respond to your loved one’s needs instead of constantly reacting to the unexpected while you juggle all of the other responsibilities in your life.
|