INDIANAPOLIS — Several rooms and spaces inside take up Quality Life Indy, a new adult day center located on the city's far east side, at the corner of 30th Street and Post Road.
Leslie Allen is the Angel Ambassador. She's one of the first faces you'll meet the second you step inside.
"We have 25,000 square footage here. This is another chill area, with another fireplace. We have a television," Allen explained. "This is our gym area here. We will have trained professionals that will be able to watch our clients. We will have a schedule, we'll have a time when they can come up and get them some little cardio going."
Adult day services can sometimes be mistaken for a nursing home. But this place is not that. In fact, it has more than a typical senior center. This place is more like an all-day Boys and Girls Club for your grandparents.
What was once a former furniture store now offers senior citizens a game room, theater, computer lab, a place for breakfast, lunch and snacks, licensed media professionals, and even a barber shop and beauty salon.
"We have two chairs. We have a master barber and a hair stylist," Allen said.
All of these services, including transportation to and from, is 100% paid for by Medicaid insurance. Heather Thompson, President of Quality Life Indy, said the nearest other adult day center is more than 12 miles away. She said their decision to invest in the east side was no accident.
"We picked the east side because of the fact that it was not currently being served and we realize how important our services are and how important our services are to the under served, underprivileged communities," Thompson said.
Allen agrees. She believes this investment in the far east side is one more step toward address the root causes of the area's problems.
"To let the east side of town, know that we do care, and we're not going to stop. We're going to keep on until we can get peace out here in these streets," Allen said.
Quality Life Indy will open for the first time on May 3. You can sign up by calling 317-602-5885 or by emailing QualityLifeIndy@gmail.com.
