Dr. Faye Zakheim, President, Revival Home Health Care

Faye Zakheim says she feels she is fulfilling a mission as President of Revival Home Health Care. “At Revival, we’re constantly aware of the fact that this is not a business. It is dealing with vulnerable people’s lives. That’s why we feel motivated by one overriding objective: to provide professional, nurturing care to our patients when they come out of the hospital or are recovering from illness.”
The child of holocaust survivors, Faye grew up in Brooklyn, the only girl among four brothers. A strong educational ethic instilled by her parents, gave Faye and her siblings the opportunity to graduate from the finest yeshivas and universities.  Faye attended Brooklyn College, where she received Bachelors’ degrees in both Psychology and Accounting. She met and married Steve Zakheim during her last year in college, while she interned in a special program teaching parents how to cope with their Down’s Syndrome children. The Zakheims have five children, including a set of triplets. “Helping others has always been the foundation of our lives,” she says. While her children were growing up, Faye was a high school math teacher at a local Brooklyn school.
When her familial obligations became less demanding, Faye went back to school to fulfill her dream of helping families. She received her Master’s in Social Work from Wurzweiler School of Social Work and her Post Master’s in Family Work at Hunter College.  She is presently finishing her Doctorate at New York University’s Post Doctoral Program, in Family Dynamics in the Jewish community. Faye is a professor at the Ehrenkranz School of Social Work at New York University.
Her deep empathy for members of the Jewish community is manifested in her choice of career and her involvement in community agencies that help families. She feels particularly fortunate that she can volunteer as an EMHT or Emergency Mental Health Technician for Hatzolah Volunteer Ambulance Corps which offers critical assistance to the Jewish community.
 Faye’s strong and abiding interest in family dynamics is rooted in the large, warm and extended family she comes from.  Her grandmother lived to 107 and Faye regards her  as the pivotal influence in her life and a role model for being able to age independently at home.  “We all  knew how important it was to my grandmother, the matriarch of our family, to be surrounded by her children and grandchildren. She was healthy all her life and didn’t need much help until the end. Not everyone is as lucky.”
 Recognizing that this is the reality of aging today, Revival was founded to meet the needs of the Jewish community, particularly the Holocaust survivor population. “Our caregivers are trained to be sensitive to the needs of these Jewish patients.” Faye lectures in hospitals and even at NYU Law School to increase awareness of the special cultural needs of the Orthodox. But she feels, it is especially important for  caregivers who come into a patient’s home, to have the right information, “In order to make what is a difficult reality—needing help at home—more comfortable for patients. When someone comes into your home to care for you, they become a part of your family. My goal is to make sure that they are a welcome and helpful addition to the family.”