Zionsville Meadows: More Than a Retirement Community, They’re Neighbors
July 2019
Writer // Janelle Morrison Photography //Submitted
Being actively connected with other community members, whether across the campus or across town, keeps seniors engaged and social. Being an active and acknowledged member of our Zionsville community helps them avoid isolation, stave off depression and keeps their minds active and healthier.
Zionsville Meadows—an American Senior Communities property—is known for its continuum of senior housing and health care solutions, including assisted senior living and independent senior living apartments, designed to accommodate a diversity of lifestyle choices and health care needs, but it also offers programs and activities that are focused on keeping its residents actively engaged on and off of campus.
Its convenient location offers close proximity to shopping centers, such as Boone Village Shopping, Anson, downtown Zionsville, parks, churches, a myriad of restaurants and health care facilities.
Zionsville Meadows Campus
Zionsville Meadows is a senior community that offers an array of services such as Moving Forward rehabilitation, which is designed for those striving to restore abilities due to stroke, cardiovascular difficulties, orthopedic surgery and other debilitating conditions.
Outpatient therapy is available at Zionsville Meadows and offers a personalized approach to clinically proven strategies that promote overall better health. By combining highly trained and compassionate therapists with the latest technologies, their programs are structured to fit your needs.
Additionally, it offers Auguste’s Cottage Memory Care, a structured, research-based memory care program that is a self-contained center within its care community. For individuals who struggle with daily tasks and can no longer be cared for at home due to illness, injury, frailty or other limitations, Zionsville Meadows’ long-term care program is an available option.
Also, respite care is available for caregivers who need and deserve a break from their caregiving responsibilities in order to properly care for their own health or personal needs on a short-term basis.
When the time comes, Zionsville Meadows offers hospice and palliative care for seniors that is designed to provide comfort, care and pain relief for those facing terminal illness. Its reputation for compassionate and expert medical care, pain and medicine management, along with its team and holistic approach to supporting families and patients, is why many families and seniors trust Zionsville Meadows to assist them with their end-of-life care.
Programs that Nurture the Mind, Body and Spirit
Thrive is a comprehensive activities program offered at Zionsville Meadows that was developed in part by Taylor Shuey, the general manager. Thrive is more than just activities—it is a commitment to whole-person engagement and enriched living. Informed by science and research, its lifestyle curriculum is crafted to provide a balanced, refreshing and rewarding variety of activities and events that are unique to this active senior living community.
It is only one of the countless reasons why Zionsville Meadows is considered one of the best assisted living facilities and independent living communities in the greater Indianapolis metropolitan area.
The Thrive program addresses multiple dimensions of wellness:
Thought—activities that preserve and promote memory and cognitive function;
Health-promoting exercise, nutrition, therapy and wellness education;
Recreation—activities that provide opportunities for camaraderie, discovery and entertainment;
Interaction—promoting social pursuits that foster strong connections with others within their Zionsville Meadows community as well as their Zionsville community;
Vocation—engaging residents and fulfilling a sense for purpose and contribution by utilizing skills and interests from former vocations toward philanthropic and volunteer opportunities; and lastly,
Expression—nurturing spiritual and emotional well-being through activities that promote creative or artistic self-expression, values, beliefs and faith.
Delay the Disease
“We are doing a push for our Delay the Disease program that we have through our outpatient and therapy department in general,” Shuey shared. “The program was first developed for people with Parkinson’s to help delay the onset of its symptoms, but we have found that it is really beneficial for any seniors, and so we have opened it up to the public.”
Shuey continued, “As we get older, our stride becomes shorter and shorter, which is why you see some senior citizens kind of shuffling their feet—they feel more secure. Delay the Disease is meant to push participants outside of that comfort zone and gives them exercises to help them delay the symptoms of Parkinson’s as well.”
Zionsville Meadows Leadership
While some of the leadership is relatively new to Zionsville Meadows, they are certainly not strangers to senior living and senior care communities. Zionsville Meadows’ general manager, Taylor Shuey sat down with us to discuss the direction that Zionsville Meadows is headed in and their specific goals for their residents and community partnerships.
Shuey’s background in the senior living community industry has provided her with the necessary experience to lead her team at Zionsville Meadows. She understands the importance of being involved in the community and working alongside the neighborhoods in Zionsville.
Shuey grew up in Fishers in the Hamilton Southeastern School district and graduated from Miami of Ohio University. She appreciates the close community that Zionsville is. She emphasized that she has found members of the community to be very welcoming and supportive, especially the town’s first responders.
“I played volleyball and softball in high school and came to Zionsville a lot [while competing in sports],” she said. “What I love most is that it is a very tight-knit community, and I love that. I feel very at home in Zionsville.”
Shuey is working on additional ways to implement systems throughout her buildings to better serve her residents and first responders during critical moments when they need to obtain fast information even more readily.
“I am putting systems in place that will provide information to EMS,” Shuey said. “It is part of what I am doing to continue to bridge any gaps and build stronger relationships with first responders.”
Shuey stressed that Zionsville Meadows is truly a place where its residents come not only for compassionate senior care but also to enjoy what life still has to offer.
“There is a perception, of any senior living community, that this is where you go when you are aging ,” Shuey stated. “That is not us. Zionsville Meadows is where people come to live and thrive and find adaptive ways to enjoy the things in life that they used to. People tend to isolate themselves because they don’t come to terms with their health issues or the fact that they’ve lost their loved ones and friends.
We really encourage the socialization piece of our community and tell our residents that they are as independent as they want to be, but we are here to assist and guide them along this phase of their respective journeys.”
The Wheels on the Trishaw Go Around and Around Zionsville
The activities offered to residents of Zionsville Meadows goes beyond the aesthetically pleasing grounds—the residents get to enjoy the splendor of their town in a rather unique way.
“Our residents love our trishaw,” Shuey said. “We have a trishaw—a bike with a carriage in the front of it—and have partnered with Cycling Without Age, along with the owners of our property, Health and Hospital Corporation, who purchased the trishaw so that we can offer rides courtesy of our volunteers, who offer their time to cycle our residents through various parts of Zionsville.”
Upcoming New Event—Save the Date
“I didn’t realize until coming here how much of a ‘pet’ community it is,” Shuey admitted. “My dog comes to work with me almost every day, and everybody here is all about their animals, so we are hosting a pet event on August 24 from 8:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m., and the Humane Society for Boone County will bring pets for adoption.
Three Dog Bakery will donate treats, and the money that is donated throughout the event will benefit the Alzheimer’s Association. Sponsorships and booth space are available, and those donations will also benefit the Alzheimer’s Association.”
Shuey mentioned that a dog groomer and pet psychic will also be on hand, and the ZPD K-9 Unit will perform demonstrations at this event. Look for more information on this event to come as details get solidified.
The Zionsville Meadows Difference
As Shuey and her dedicated team continue to build and develop connections throughout the community and plan innovative and purposeful programs and events, they are primarily focused on providing a wholehearted living approach to the care that they are providing their residents.
“All of these people are special humans,” she said. “They each have stories, and they have things that they want to do that are still on their bucket lists, so if I can make connections to make those things come to fruition for them, then that is what I am going to do. I have helped other senior living communities in my previous roles, and I want to do it here in Zionsville because there is so much that we can do—we just have to ask the right people and find the right resources.”
In addition to offering proper medical and emotional care to its residents, Zionsville Meadows and its parent company, American Senior Communities, offers nutrition education and a delectable dining menu that is made from scratch and overseen by ASC’s corporate head chef.
“Chef Dave says that they’re changing the culture [of senior living communities] one bite at a time,” Hirsch said. “The food is from local purveyors and made in a scratch kitchen on our property. Our residents see lower anxieties, blood pressure and other health benefits as a result of the care that we provide, which we provide from a holistic approach that includes nutrition.”
Shuey added, “The meals here are quite wonderful. There are many days that I enjoy a delicious meal, breakfast, lunch and dinner, while at work.”
As experts in senior care, Zionsville Meadows is not just doing a job but following a calling. The leadership and staff are focused on helping you and your family find answers, solutions and peace of mind. They take their investment in you and your family seriously. They stay abreast of the latest research and products available by the most credible and respected organizations and groups.
They also strive to offer their residents the latest and most user-friendly technology to help residents and their families maintain connections and view activity calendars and daily menus from the comfort of their own homes or apartments. They have a long history of excellent outcomes and take pride in serving their residents with good ol’ Hoosier hospitality, along with reputable and compassionate care.
Are you interested in volunteering at Zionsville Meadows? Many opportunities are available for adults and even high school students who may have a passion for art, music, sports and other engaging activities and wish to include one of the town’s most treasured demographics in a variety of fun activities. Those interested in learning about the different volunteer opportunities are encouraged to contact Zionsville Meadows at (317) 873-5205.
For more information about Zionsville Meadows, please visit its website at asccare.com/community/zionsville-meadows.