About Us
Expanded Purpose
And Evolved Mission
When we added assisted living and Abe’s Garden Memory Support to Park Manor’s senior living community in 2015, our mission was to improve the lives of those touched by Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. But our long-term vision has always been to enhance the lives and cognitive health of all seniors – not just those living with cognitive challenges. That’s why we united all our services, including Park Manor, under one name: Abe’s Garden Community.
To better reflect our vision – and our future – our mission has evolved:
To establish a replicable model for senior life that is focused on brain health, wellness and purposeful living.
Abe’s Story: Our Roots
The seeds of Abe’s Garden Community were planted when founder Michael Shmerling’s father, Abram C. “Abe” Shmerling, MD, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Dealing with the disease firsthand, Michael and his family experienced the limited availability of quality services and care dedicated to a rapidly growing population of older adults with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
Michael’s passion for establishing an Alzheimer’s Center of Excellence grew daily as the family helplessly watched their father succumb to the disease more than 11 years after his diagnosis.
Throughout Abe’s journey with Alzheimer’s disease, the idea for Abe’s Garden Memory Support Center of Excellence began to take root. The dramatic need for a community whose heart and soul would be centered on caring for those sharing the same fate as Abe became clearer with each passing day.
Mindful that there are no proven treatments or cures for Alzheimer’s disease (yet), the only viable recourse today is to improve the quality of life for those with the disease, their families and professional caregivers through a residential community, home care services, and other programs designed specifically for that purpose.
Our Evolution
After just five years of operation, Abe’s Garden gained the experience, reputation, name recognition, best practices and philanthropic partnerships that we believed could influence all our services. And with that, Abe’s Garden Community was born.
Abe’s Garden Community unites all our services under one name. In addition to our residential memory support, our community now also includes the independent living and assisted living offerings previously provided as Park Manor, as well as all our nonresidential programs, Abe’s Garden at Home, Abe’s Garden Community Group, and Abe’s Garden Club.
At Abe’s Garden Community, we remain committed to fostering healthy living for our residents. In separate spaces, we provide residential options for those able to live independently, those needing assisted living, and those living with memory loss who require specialized care.
As a unified organization, we now share innovative programming, wellness initiatives and financial resources to achieve our common mission of serving older adults and their caregivers, whether on or off our senior living campus.
Select wellness and brain health programs that are considered some of the best in the country are available to all residents right where they live. We are grateful to our philanthropic partners whose generosity provides resources that impact the entire campus.
Our Promise
We believe the focus of an organization should be to evolve and grow based on the needs of those it serves, so we will continue to innovate, execute, improve and evolve as our changing world demands
We Are a Nonprofit Organization
Abe’s Garden Community is a 501(c)(3) social benefit organization. This means we are dedicated to improving the quality of life for older adults and investing financial resources into our organization to fulfill our mission. As a nonprofit, we seek donors to help enhance programming, improve campus grounds and buildings, and provide supportive opportunities for employees. Charitable contributions to the organization are essential to the organization’s financial well-being. Contributions are tax-deductible and make the following initiatives possible:
- Continually expanding opportunities for wellness and engagement
- Assistance for residents and program participants who demonstrate financial need
- Family support benefiting residents and program participants
- An employee appreciation fund
- Specialized team member training