Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Natacha Delince.
Hi Dr. Delince, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
My name is Dr. Natacha Delince, the Founder and CEO of Lamercie Health Care, a healthcare company striving to assist the elderly and their families and caregivers with long-term care solutions through the home and community-based services. I am an Army Veteran, serving almost 8 years, and served two tours in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. I am first generation American, born to two Haitian immigrants who migrated to the United States in the late seventies. My entrepreneurship journey began in 2007 while on active duty and stationed in Georgia. I received a call from my sister in New York. Our mother, who lived alone in Florida, had not been heard from in several days. This was unusual as my sister spoke to her several times per day. I called the police department local to my mother’s home and asked them to do a welfare check on my mother. After what seemed like an eternity, the officer called with the news I dreaded– he found my mother! She was on the floor of her laundry room, alive but in a very fragile state. After a series of tests, and at the tender age of 64, my mother was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. From the moment she was diagnosed, I knew the course of our lives had changed. Nothing, ever again, would be the same. The social worker at the hospital suggested that my mother be transferred to a nursing home. Not knowing or being provided any other options, my mother was moved to an acceptable but banal and impersonal facility. My mother lived only a few months in the nursing home. She died 12 days after her 65th birthday. She never returned home. My mother’s name was Lamercie Delince, and Lamercie Health Care was born.
Once my military career was behind me, I dedicated my time and efforts to caring for or working on behalf of the elderly. Particularly, too, to educate families on their choices outside of the nursing homes and larger institutional facilities for long-term care. I became certified as a Nursing Assistant in 2008 and became licensed as a Nursing Home Administrator in 2012 after obtaining my master’s degree in healthcare administration. I completed my doctorate in business administration in 2019. I have worked in both the public and private sectors and more recently worked on behalf of veterans in long-term care facilities throughout the state of Florida as an employee of the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs. Through my various personal and professional experiences, I found that there was a need for more viable solutions where elders and their families are educated and connected with other long-term care options via home and community-based services. I now currently live in Ruskin, Florida, where I own and operate a small residential care home for the disabled and elderly.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Some of the struggles to get to where I am now is that I had gotten pregnant at the age of 14 and have been a single parent since the age of 15. I was a high school dropout. I obtained my GED at 18 and joined the army a few months later. Instead of being a statistic, which many people swore I would become, I broke those barriers and showed those nay Sayers – I would not and did not fail. Through perseverance, hard work, and determination, I broke those barriers. In the military, I was in an occupational specialty dominated by males- I was usually the only or of a few females in my squad. And once I left the military, I became a minority, female, service-connected disabled veteran, trying to make something of herself in a civilian world where it was every man for himself. I went from leading and training soldiers as a Sergeant to having to start from scratch working for $12-$13 per hour as a home health aide/certified nursing assistant. Fortunately, I was able to use my GI Bill and continue my education, earn my master’s and later my doctorate in business administration.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about Lamercie Health Care?
Lamercie Health Care functions primarily as an adult family care home in Ruskin, Florida. Adult family care homes (AFCHs) are private residences that are licensed to provide housing, meals, and personal care services for up to five (5) older persons and disabled adults who are unable to live independently. Unlike assisted living facilities, AFCHs are owned and operated by licensed AFCH “providers” who live with the residents they serve. AFCHs are intended to be a less costly alternative to more restrictive, institutional settings for individuals who do not need 24-hour nursing supervision.
I have been in long-term care since 2008. First started off as a home health aide, then worked my way up to becoming a licensed nursing home administrator. I went from being a front-line staff to working in leadership roles. I was a family member first or a resident in a nursing home, and then I became a manager of a nursing home. Though my experiences seem unique, they really are not. But what I have done is cultivated what I feel are best practices and put them into practice, while building a great team and surrounding myself with the right people.
Adult Family Care Homes are set apart from other settings because it allows a resident to continue to live in the community in a home-like setting. Adult Family Care Homes allow for more one-on-one care, individualized attention, a better sense of security, and overall general supervision for the individual. My adult family care home, specifically, is situated in a beautiful gated community on a waterfront property that is peaceful, tranquil, and serene. I do take pride that the property is well maintained and well-kept for the benefit of the residents to live in a place that they are comfortable in and one that feels like home.
I am proud brand-wise that I have been able to accomplish what I have thus far. Obviously, I have not done it all alone, but by the grace of God, I have been able to maintain the momentum, even when it has felt that I was not going to be able to push through. I named this brand after my mother, and I can only hope that through her death, Lamercie Health Care continues to birth opportunities where individuals can continue to be educated on their options when it comes to long-term care and only uses institutional settings as a last resort.
That Lamercie Health Care has only just started! We plan to continue to serve our community one step at a time, one service at a time, one person at a time.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
I definitely first have to thank God for giving me the gift of the desire to serve others. I definitely want to give a shout-out to Action Zone. I was part of their second cohort of an entrepreneurship class. Action Zone “was created by the Veteran community for the Veteran community.” Their services are designed to help Veterans, Active Duty, Reservists, Guards, military spouses, and dependents build businesses. They helped me by fine-tuning my business idea, how to market, how to look at financials and just an overall crash course into business basics. Best of all, they were able to connect me to resources that I needed, in real-time! I would also like to thank Marcia Miller of the Residential Care Network and Pascal Bergeron of ALF Boss – these were two individuals who are crushing it in the assisted living and residential care home space and who I am proud to call my mentors in the long-term care field.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lamerciehealthcare.com
