Stephanie’s husband, Brent, had dysarthria and anomia from a stroke. As a caregiver working full time, she really appreciated having housing included and not having to worry about logistics - all she had to do was get here. Brent also made great progress and gained more independence during his session.
What made you choose to come here other than the fact that it’s in Florida?
Well, I looked at this place and really there were a couple of factors. One, it seemed to be the best value for the money. This program out of pure cost comparison, it’s a longer program for the same amount of money as the other programs in the U.S.
Secondly,the website was way more detailed and offered a lot more information about the nature of the program, the nature of the activities, case studies so I could have an idea of what to expect. The other programs just didn’t offer the kind of detailed information that I would expect to support a decision to spend the kind of money that it was gonna require.
The third thing was the support to caregivers. This place arranges housing for you, and the other places were like “We can give you a list of hotels”. You know, I’ve spent the last year figuring things out. One less thing to have to figure out is really beneficial. And the fact that it’s Saint Petersburg, it happened to be because of where we live that it’s easy to get down here. And you guys specify the apartments are ten minutes. I mean things like this make a difference to me, to a caregiver. How easy is it gonna be to get him to and from treatment. Well, it’s a ten minute drive! Great. Whereas if we were in Chicago, are we gonna have to take the train, I mean how hard is it gonna be? Am i gonna have to deal with parking? These things matter when you spend many hours a week just trying to figure out logistics. And you guys, your website made it clear that the logistics just weren’t going to be a big problem. You know, that was a factor.
Coupled with everything else, and so having come here we really think we made the right decision. It’s been really good. The progress that he’s made has been excellent, the community experience that we’ve had here has been really good. Because of where the apartments are located, Brent can walk on his own and he’s been able to walk to things which we really weren’t expecting. Interact with people, have some independence which is really important. You know, when you have aphasia, any opportunities you get to kind of do things on your own are good and important. The environment here has really facilitated that.