Devotedly serving his oath to Hippocrates, Dr. Tsevas infused his little daughter, Anna, with his sense of responsibility, moral obligation and lifetime purpose to help those in need.
As early as 17 years old, Anna was convinced that a career in Nursing would ideally equip her to step on her father’s footsteps and empower her to alleviate pain, to offer caresse, to embrace and show affection to the vulnerable, the weak, the ill, the marginalised. She took the brave decision to leave her family behind and enrol at the Sister Nurses Academy of the General Laiko Hospital, in Athens, one of the prime and most challenging educational institutions of its era. Right upon graduation as a Certified Skilled Nurse, she began her professional career at the public sector, spending 18 years at the service of Greek patients.
Having encountered countless seniors facing complex health conditions, she realised neither the public nor the private healthcare sector was adequately addressing the needs of the Greek elders, with most of them being taken care at home, with minimal, if not absent, nursing and medical supervision. Albeit considered a taboo to ‘send your beloved family to an elderly care facility’ in the rather collectivistic Greek culture, she realised a market gap existed in assisted living and nursing home facilities. Confident of her expertise, knowledge, good will and passion, she embarked on a lifelong journey to change popular perception about elderly care in Greece. Her dream was the creation of a safe, spotless, clinical facility where you would be proud to bring your elders, and not ashamed of the stigma attached. She dreamt of a place where seniors’ life would be prolonged and vastly ameliorated compared to the detrimental, culturally-informed decision to keep gravely ill elders within one’s home, with inadequate means. She wanted to build a community, where the suspicion of Greek families would give place to unrequited trust that their elders are respected and rightly taken care of.
This is when Marepi was born, in 1987. Anna’s commitment to rebrand and upscale elderly care was complemented with the entrepreneurial and business acumen of her then-husband Aggelos Sachitzis. Jointly with their eldest daughter Epistimi Sachitzi, recently enrolled, at the time, at the country’s top School of Commerce, they set out to build the early foundations of Marepi (derived from the names of the two kids of the family Mar-ianthi and Epi). They rented out a suitable facility to start-it up and with great thrift and personal labour, all three, converted it into the healthcare service provider and brand, known as Marepi today.
Anna remained the central figure of this attempt, coordinating, staffing and directing all nursing and medical experts taken onboard for the years to come. Most importantly though, putting immense personal devotion into making Marepi what it is today, a synonym of clinical excellence and trust. It was not uncommon for most of our residents’ family members to call her ‘Ms. Marepi’ instead of Anna, signifying the tremendous anthropocentric dimension of our brand around her presence and invaluable work.
In 1999, as Marepi was steadily growing in clientele, with rising demand, unable to be met in the old premises, Anna seconded the family decision to buy our own land and construct the ideal building to host Marepi’s operations. Ever since, you will find her seating at her office, right in front of Marepi’s entrance, providing priceless relief to families that their elders are in the right hands. Alternatively, you would have to chase her down the five floors of our building, where she would be chatting in our residents’ rooms, happily conversing with them, trying to discreetly figure out what they need and how she can find a way to achieve it. Or most probably, you would find her walking around with her walkie-talkie, supervising our nursing, cleaning and administrative staff to ensure no detail is left unattended and Marepi seamlessly continues being the all-embracing community where everyone belongs and everyone is happy to be part of.