A patient and therapist bond

A resident at the NJ Veterans Home at Menlo Park (Mr Parisi), where Prime Rehabilitation Services proudly provides the physical, occupational and speech therapy services,  really wanted to go home to his family for the holidays. Unfortunately there was a safety concern and he was not encouraged to do so because his daughter had a full flight of stairs. Fal, his Occupational Therapist, and the Director of Rehabilitation,  was determined to help him get the permission he needed to go home for a visit as he had the potential and the motivation. Mr. Parisi was given the clearance from his cardiologist and placed him on the therapy program for functional ambulation focusing on independence and safety negotiating stairs.

Unfortunately, days away from going home, Mr. Parisi got sick and was unable to make the trip. Even though he was unable to go home, he said he wanted to thank Fal for believing in him. Mr. Parisi is an artist, and painted a beautiful painting. Within the painting, he put Fal’s name on the restaurant!! It took him 4-5 weeks to finish this painting, and Fal proudly says “he will forever live in my heart”.

These are Mr. Parisi’s words that he wanted to share: “I wanted to go home for the holidays to my daughter’s apartment. There were stairs involved. Fal fought for me to get onto therapy. She got the orders from the doctor for me to practice stairs. Unfortunately, I got sick few days before the holidays, so I never made it to my daughter’s apartment. But I still wanted to say thank you to Fal for putting in so much effort. Fal loves traveling, and beautiful scenary. So I painted her a picture of an Italian scene that captures the beautiful colors, and the romance. I love to paint. It’s been my hobby since my wife died. I put Fal’s name on the restaurant inside the painting so she will always have a piece of her inside my painting.

With love,
Anthony Parisi”