Internists Associated began, as it remains, a family affair.
Cindy Allen, a nursing student from Greencastle, met Steve Allen, a medical student from Brazil, Indiana, at IU. They married in 1977, then moved to Muncie for Steve’s residency at Ball Hospital. Before they knew it, they were opening their own local practice with two other physicians, Steve an internist and Cindy a nurse, and watching their two children grow up running the office hallways after hours.
Now their daughter, Dr. Megan Zelasko, a member of the practice since 2014, is poised to take over the business when her mother follows her father into retirement.
“We are so happy, just absolutely thrilled,” says Cindy. “We were just so lucky.”
Luck’s probably always involved when, as a young person, you find a partner for both your home and work life. For the Allens, it’s also required hard work to remain an independent, family-owned business all these years.
“Steve was adamant—he was never going to be anybody else’s employee,” says Cindy. And they found they balanced each other, Cindy the organized one, Steve more laid back—though they quickly discovered, for marital harmony, it was best if Cindy didn’t serve as Steve’s nurse.
“We both loved our jobs,” she says. “We both loved our patients—99.9% of our patients have been wonderful. We loved caring for them.
“That’s why I still love my job.”
When their son and daughter came along, the practice became a natural part of their lives too. They spent sick days sleeping under their parents’ desks, raced each other down hallways on exam room stools, earned allowance money (or Noble Roman’s breadsticks) by filing patient charts.
Steve says: “It was such a pleasure being able to take care of generations of family members and extended families and getting to know the community of Muncie.”
“They grew up in the office,” says Cindy.
One of them never left—or at least came back quickly. While son Drew studied computers at Purdue and now works in security for banking institutions, daughter Megan went off to college with a love of biology and returned an Emory graduate with a raft of honors, a new family and a desire to follow in her parents’ footsteps. She now has two young daughters of her own.
The practice she will run someday will not be the same as her parents started in 1981. Fourteen different physicians have passed through IA’s doors, and of course it’s hard for a close-knit staff to say goodbye. A current season of change has brought a new doctor and nurse practitioner to the practice, bringing the current total to fiver providers and almost twenty staff.
Changes in healthcare have also changed the job. “We know it’s going to be hard for this generation to practice the way they want,” says Cindy.
“But it’s just so satisfying for me and Steve to know we’ve provided good medical care for thousands of people. We’re proud of that.”
It’s a history that makes Megan even more excited for the future.
“I believe in our model and the excellent quality care we have been able to provide East Central Indiana for almost 40 years. Despite many challenges with modern day medicine, I know we have a solid foundation to build upon and an awesome group of providers and staff who work hard day in and day out, and I owe my parents and their vision for that.”