Lindsay’s Technology Blog
By Lindsay Kondis, Peer Advocate
My name is Lindsay Kondis, and I would like to share a little about myself. I was diagnosed with Prader-Willi Syndrome, which is a rare disease.
Because of this rare disease I had to face many challenges throughout my life. My family have always been supportive, but to ensure my safety and health, I moved to Mainstay when I was twenty-four years old.
Living at Mainstay gives me the structure I need to ensure my safety, with a proper diet that is vital to my health. Mainstay has done their best to provide me with a four-week menu plan, which consists of three meals a day and two snacks, including one free day a month, where I can add more calories. I exercise twice a day for forty-five minutes. I talk to my family often and visit them. I go to monthly dances, and I enjoy hanging out with my boyfriend when I can. Mainstay has made it possible for me to be independent.
Mainstay’s Technology Support team has been wonderful in supporting my independence on a higher level. To live independently on my own has been a long dream of mine. I am in the beginning of the process. Mainstay’s tech team came to my residence to set up a Remote Support System, with sensor lights and a touch – on screen added to my room. The Remote Support System that is in my home helps to assist with my well-being and safety, because I am high risk. It is there to ensure that I am following my restricted diet, that is needed for my support and health.
The sensor lights monitor knows when I open doors or move around the house. Again, this ensures my safety because the kitchen can be very enticing and if I were to eat what I wanted, whenever I wanted, it can become very fatal to me. The touch screen in my room reassures me that I can get a hold of someone when I need to. It provides security, when necessary, while providing me the privacy I need in my bedroom when I choose not to use it.
I can have private visits with my boyfriend, friends and family or alone time, when I want. If I need to go somewhere, I can plan my own schedule. I can set up my own appointments and in the future I will be able to self-medicate. I can live independently and I have the freedom and rights as everyone else, while my health and safety are prioritized because of technology.
I cannot begin to express what this means to me and what my future holds. I am finally getting to a place where I need less support from staff to be more self-sufficient. My future goal is to stay with Mainstay and use the technology to increase my independence. Aside from high tech ware, I use my cell phone to call family, friends, and coworkers. I have an IPAD and a computer that I use for work. I want to thank Heather and Desiree for helping to make this all possible.