Francis empowers caretakers of children in need of physical therapy by providing access to information and services to parents while breaking down financial barriers and increasing family support. We wanted to provide accessible physical therapy demonstrations for parents to carry out on their new-born children.
It all starts with my mother, she is an pediatric occupational therapist. I spent the majority of my summers and school breaks accompanying my mother in the houses of her patients where she performed therapy. I was introduced to a side of life I never knew existed. I was able to learn empathy at a very early age because I experienced this side of life so different from my own. I witnessed the plight of physically disabled children every summer, and I hated it. Those experiences were heartbreaking and I wanted to forget them. I did not pity the children. In fact, the kids were the best part. Instead I pitied the parents. The looks on their faces haunted me. When you're a kid you believe in happy-endings and optimism. The worry in their eyes made optimism seem like a folly endeavor. The half-smiles were the worst part. You could tell they were worried. I knew that they wanted more time with my mother and for her to do more. I felt their dissatisfaction with themselves. I couldn't understand it then, now I do. They were feeling helpless and alone. They just spent $300 dollars for an hour session that was more likely to be ineffective than effective at all. It wasn't enough. My mom would go on to open her own clinic, then another one, and another one. With each opening, our commitment as a family to enriching the lives of physically disabled children deepened. And the haunting dissatisfaction from families persisted.
Embracing my past experiences was a catalyst to nurturing the seed that was planted during my childhood. I want to help empower parents of physically disabled children and give them the support they need to smile again.
So I took a deeper look into the problem while studying in Portugal to see if it was a problem at all.
"Parents come to me overly concerned about their children. Experienced parents are more casual about their situation." - American Pediatrician
"I give them a print-out illustrations of at home exercises the parents can perform on the child in between sessions, but often times the parents lose them" - American Pediatric Therapist
"I need a trusted source, confirmation and affirmation that what I am doing is right." - American mother
"Need something specific and personalized to my child's condition." - Portuguese father
"I know I can do better… she’s more comfortable with me" - Portuguese mother, Fabia
I met Fabia, a Portuguese mother with a disabled daughter of her own. She takes her daughter to therapy 4 times a week. You would think that it would suffice, but no, Fabia was adamant that she could do more. I asked why, and contritely she said, “ she’s more comfortable with me, she knows my eyes, I’m her mom”. This makes sense, I’ve seen the tantrums and waisted sessions where the child is moody and uncomfortable. They're children at the end of the day.
.jpg)
Everyone is a work-in-progress. But for children with disabilities, progress is pertinent. Though, right now, daily progress has been deemed unrealistic. By using Francis, parents will have to employ a growth mindset and stretch the limitations of what they believe is possible. With Francis there is hope, vision, persistence, and a constant assessment that informs parents what they are doing and how they can improve their child’s disability.
