This picture was taken in front of Misericordia Hospital in the Bronx, New York in 1968. I was a Candystriper there for five years.
From registered nurse, to private duty nurse for reclusive Palm Beach millionaires, to serving on the Healthcare Council Committee for the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce and on the advisory board for Keiser University; I’ve been in healthcare over 25 years. As a teenager, I was a candy striper at Misericordia Hospital in the Bronx. My first stint in the insurance field was as a case manager for Kemper National Services in Plantation, Florida managing Workman’s Compensation cases for such companies as Johnson & Johnson. These days, I use my professional background to provide comprehensive health insurance for my clients. Along the way, I learned how to navigate the new world of Affordable Health Care (aka “Obamacare”). Let’s take this journey together.
Why am I telling you all this?
And why have I sprinkled my website with treasured family photos? Especially because I am not a facebook addict and I am rather reserved when it comes to revealing myself online. I am telling you my life story because it’s important to have the utmost trust in your health insurance representative. I always considered myself as warm, personal and ethical. I am the kind of person you would want to represent your interests during difficult times when you are most vulnerable. There are many people out there selling a slew of health insurance-related products.
This picture was taken when I was 5 years old. My Parents bought me a Patty Play Pal Doll and I was standing in front of my house in the Bronx with my big brother Fred. I was getting ready to take Patty for a ride in her carriage. Patty and I were inseparable then, and we still are!
How do you choose the best expert for you?
You choose someone who, because of their family background and life’s path, will sincerely care about YOU and your interests.
Born in The Bronx
My parents are eastern European descent. My father was first generation American of Hungarian ancestry while my mother was born in Czechoslovakia and survived the horrors of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Following her liberation, she immigrated to the United States and eight months later, met my father at a Hungarian picnic in the Bronx on her 18th birthday.
Perhaps because of what we learned at home, my older brother and I were both destined for the healthcare profession. Fred became a medical doctor. He inspired me to volunteer at a local hospital and eventually I became a registered nurse, a designation I still proudly hold today.
These days, my mother lives nearby in Delray Beach, Florida and I joined “Next Generations,” a group of children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors.
This Picture was taken when I got nominated for a Runyon Award for “Best Supporting Actress” of the Year at the Opus Playhouse in Coral Springs, FL 1991
This picture was taken in the lobby of the Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida attending the Carbonell Awards April, 1991
This was taken when I was at the ABC Studios in New York when I was 17. I was the Editor of my High School Newspaper (Evander Childs High School) and I got to spend a day on the set of “One Life To Live”.
I spent a day with New York Mayor John Lindsay, and this picture was taken at the end of the day. We were at a reception at Gracie Mansion in New York. I wrote an article for the Hunter College Newspaper.
My Highlights
The best parts of my life range from a helicopter ride over Manhattan with Mayor John Lindsay and spending part of my honeymoon in a “haunted mansion” in Micanopy, Florida.
I also love the stage. I passed the first set of tryouts for Wheel of Fortune in 1985. But I had to decline the producers’ invitation to come back the next day, because I had my final exams for nursing school. Instead, I got a souvenir pencil that says, “I tried out for the Wheel of Fortune.”
My other brush with Hollywood came when I won a meeting with the famous soap opera star Susan Lucci. I miss “All My Children.”
In Broward County community theatre, I was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for my role as Kate Mallory in “Romantic Comedy”.
Life’s Best Gift: Good Health
This was taken at my graduation when I received my Degree in Nursing.
As a private-duty nurse in Palm Beach, I took care of some extremely wealthy and influential clients, as well as celebrities and professional athletes.
Some of the patients I treated told me they would surrender all their wealth and fame in a heartbeat, for good health.
You don’t realize how important good health is until yours is jeopardized. My life dramatically changed one Sunday evening when I was coming off working a 12-hour shift at the hospital. I had no food in the house and decided to get Chinese takeout when a drunk driver crushed into me.
I spent almost a week in the hospital.
After that, I was out of work almost a year and with no disability insurance. The travel fund I started years earlier for vacations now went to paying my rent and living expenses, which my major medical health insurance did not cover. To make matters worse, the stress of not being able to pay my bills set back my recovery.
Once I recovered, I could no longer lift patients from their beds. My supervisor urged me to use my background and knowledge to help others in a capacity other than nursing in a hospital setting. This is when I became a private duty nurse and then pursued helping people with obtaining quality managed care.
I believe that everything that happened to me before was to prepare me for what I am doing now.
I am a problem solver. I approach my business with, “What hurts?” And, I ask, “How can I make it better? At heart, I am still a nurse.
The Saval Insurance Promise:
“Joaquin supervises me while preparing insurance proposals. Joaquin said I did a purrfect job.”
I will advocate for you with the huge, faceless bureaucracies and corporations that so often make “life or death decisions” about your health care. And good or bad news, I promise to always be honest with you about deductibles, limits, provisos, reimbursements, etc.
Sincerely,
Toby Saval R.N.
