Today we’d like to introduce you to Darlinda Copeland.
Hi Darlinda , we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Darlinda Copeland and I chose nursing as my career because I always wanted to help people. For most of my career I worked in the hospital setting in various positions and my last position was as a Chief Operating Officer running hospitals. As my parents aged, they started to experience falls and health issues. It became clear that they should not live alone anymore. I began to search for a place for them in assisted living communities. As a daughter, a nurse, and as a hospital executive, I could not find a place for them in my area that I would want them to call home. I began speaking with physicians in my area to ask them what places they would recommend to their own families and at that point they had no recommendations. Together we determined that there was a big need for high quality assisted living and memory care communities here in Ormond Beach. I was able to find physicians and community leaders in my area that were also passionate about the need for something new in Ormond Beach that would be focused on improving the health of seniors and improving their lives every day. These community leaders became my partners in building a new community.
I was able to use the skills that I had learned on the acute hospital side to be able to create a project that fulfilled a great need in the community I love. I was able to find great bank partners and was able to secure funding through the SBA in order to build a beautiful community. Paradise Pointe of Ormond Beach is truly a locally owned and operated senior living community right in the heart of Ormond Beach! We focus on improving the lives of seniors – one resident at a time!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Starting a business from the ground up is never a smooth road. We had many challenges through land development and construction since we started our project at the tail end of the Covid Outbreak. There were challenges with wetland mitigation and land clearing, challenges with getting construction supplies, and of course challenges with the rising costs in the supply chain cycle during and after covid. We finally opened our building in February of 2023.
In addition, starting a brand new company requires finding the right leaders and front line staff in order to fulfill promises to our residents and their families. It has been a hard road, but it has been extremely satisfying to see the difference that we have made in people’s lives.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We specialize in providing a home-like community for seniors. We have a broad range of residents from independent residents that drive their own cars to those who really need specialized care. Our residents are encouraged to be as independent as possible and to live enriching full lives. We provide great activities and outings so that they can make new friends and socialize which we know slows down the aging process and progression of disease. However, we have nurses and techs readily available in the building 24/7 to help them with whatever they need from simple tasks like laundry, cooking and bedmaking to more complicated things like medication management and meeting their healthcare needs.
We are different than other senior living communities in that we are privately and locally owned and operated. We are actually owned by local physicians, nurses, and community leaders that care about our community and our seniors. As the CEO, I am on site every day and I personally know the needs of my residents. Their families can reach out to me any time that they feel they need additional attention or issue resolution.
We are also different because we have the most advanced license that is available for Assisted Living Facilities in the State of Florida. It is called an ECC license and it allows residents to age in place rather than have to move again once their diseases progress. We are able to provide this higher level of care because we have nurses physically in the building 24/7. We also specialize in memory care for residents that need more specialized care. Because we are privately owned, we are able to be quick and nimble in making changes. We recently recognized the need for an additional service which is a memory care “light” or an enhanced assisted living. This unit allows us to provide more care in a less restrictive environment.
The other thing that sets us apart is our technology. We have technology called Care Predict that actually uses predictive analytics to help keep our residents stay healthy and safe. It also provides access control to apartments and our community, allows residents to access help from staff, and locates residents within our community so that our staff know where to go when they need help.
In all that we do, we train all of our employees to focus on doing the right thing for residents. We put our residents first and we treat them the way we would want our own family treated.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
The most important lesson has been to never give up. There were many roadblocks associated with building and opening our community. At all times, I constantly had to focus on and remember my mission. I wanted to build something special and different not only for my parents but for the many seniors that needed help in Ormond Beach. Persistence was so important. It was important to always look at new solutions to issues. My father taught me that there are no problems, there are only opportunities. We always have an opportunity to change things for the better and to constantly improve not only processes but actual outcomes. The other very important lesson to remember is that we are not in control of everything (even though we want to be). There were many days that the only thing that pushed me forward was prayers and encouragement from others and my faith in God.
