After 16 years in health care, former emergency-room nurse Jess Shaffer was ready to switch gears from conventional medicine. During her undergraduate studies, she was fascinated by complementary and alternative medicine (aka root cause or functional medicine), and this prompted her journey to integrative medicine five years ago. While juggling grad school and her ER gig, she joined ER colleague Dr. Dee Bonney and his wife, Megan, owners of Alpha Omega Wellness.
They encouraged and inspired her to continue to grow her functional medicine knowledge. She completed a six-month residency then continued on to help hundreds of patients in the integrative medicine space. Three years ago Jess and her husband, Jordan, an Indianapolis firefighter and paramedic, began discussing the idea of opening a holistic practice of their own, but they didn’t yet feel ready to make the leap.
Then, just a few short months ago when a series of doors opened, Shaffer says they listened to God’s plan for their family and found the perfect spot in Center Grove for a clinic. Elevate Health officially opened its doors on October 1.
Now, in a full-circle moment, Bonney serves as Shaffer’s collaborative physician at Elevate Health, Center Grove’s premier integrative wellness clinic on Indy’s south side.
Elevate Health focuses on hormone optimization, weight management, thyroid, and gut, plus regenerative treatments using shockwave therapy, a noninvasive FDA-approved treatment utilized by orthopedic professionals and professional sports teams. Using acoustic wave technology, it treats injuries by increasing blood flow and growth factors to heal damaged areas.
Shockwave therapy treats chronic neck and back pain, rotator cuff injuries, knee issues, tennis, and golfer’s elbow, plantar fasciitis, strains and sprains, tight hip flexors, TMJ, and everyday aches and pains. It can even treat cellulite. “Shockwave therapy is nice in a world of a pill for an ill,” Shaffer says. “So many ortho issues are treated with steroids, and the patient comes back in three months because the root problem wasn’t fixed.”
In addition, they offer joint injections using advanced growth factors to help with injuries. They also offer weight-loss modalities using peptides and the InBody scan, a noninvasive body composition machine. “It helps us make sure you’re losing the right kind of weight, not just muscle or bone mass,” says Shaffer, who notes that regarding weight loss, it’s key to look at thyroid, hormones, cortisol, gut health, and any physical ailments that are limiting exercise.
While Elevate Health is not a med spa, they do offer wrinkle relaxers, microneedling and Sculptra, a therapy that helps the body stimulate lost collagen in the face or body.
Their most cutting-edge aesthetic therapy is a product called Rejuran, which uses salmon DNA topically after microneedling to heal, tighten and improve skin texture. The majority of Shaffer’s patients come in with perimenopausal symptoms such as fatigue, lack of energy, low libido and body composition changes. Shaffer says many report “not feeling sick, but not feeling well.”
Twenty years ago, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was a taboo subject, but no more. Take a lack of progesterone in women, for instance, which can increase anxiety, promote fat retention, tank the libido, affect sleep, and cause irritability, brain fog, and night sweats. “Progesterone is usually the first place I start with women, and it’s affordable,” Shaffer says. “You can get 90 capsules shipped to your house for $15. If I can get my patients sleeping through the night and waking with more energy, reduced anxiety, and no longer snapping at their kids and husband, it can be a total game changer.”
According to Shaffer, hormones can make or break the aging process. When you don’t keep your hormones intact, you wind up with bone and muscle mass loss. Next thing you know, you’ve broken a hip and landed in the hospital with pneumonia. “I saw that in the ER all the time,” says Shaffer, who also saw ladies who suffered from chronic urinary tract infections because they had no estrogen. “If you want quality of life, HRT is where it’s at,” Shaffer says.
Gabby (last name withheld) began working with Shaffer in late 2022 when she couldn’t lose baby weight. “I never felt good,” she says. “I began to not even recognize myself.” Shaffer ran intensive blood tests and provided a plan to follow. Gabby has since lost 83 pounds and feels like a new woman.
Kylei (last name withheld) also experienced a life-changing transition by coming to Elevate Health. “I cannot express what Jess has done for me mentally, physically, and emotionally,” Kylei says. “I went to her with a multitude of midlife complaints. She ran a blood screen on me and gave me the most intense, thorough review. Within three months, I felt like a different person. Without her structured plan, I’d still be miserable.” The average patient will spend about seven minutes at the bedside with their primary care provider, making any complaint difficult to assess. When Shaffer reported gut issues to her provider years ago, he responded, “Increase your fiber and drink more water.”
Being in the health care field herself, she understood that physicians had limited time to spend with their patients, but this response didn’t sit well with her. “I thought, ‘Why is this health care?’” Shaffer says. “I wanted to be the change to help other people feel heard and feel better.”
At Elevate Health, insurance is not accepted. While this may frustrate some, it removes the barrier of allowing nonclinical individuals to dictate medicine to patients. It also allows the freedom of 30- to 60-minute appointments with patients. The first two appointments are one hour each, allowing a deeper intake and understanding of goals, as well as ample time to formulate a comprehensive and individualized treatment plan after reviewing labs. “I give them enough information so they can make an educated decision on what to start first, but I’m also mindful that the appointment can overwhelm patients with the sheer amount of information I give,” says Shaffer. “I make recommendations, but they have to decide what’s best for them. They’re the driver. I just provide the map.”
Located at 313 Western Boulevard, Suite F in Greenwood, Elevate Health offers police, fire and military members a 15% discount on their annual membership fee. For more information, call 317-708-0798 or visit elevatehealthcg.com. Visit them on Instagram @elevatehealthcg, and on Facebook.