New senior home care provider hopes to open in area by end of year

Apr. 28—A senior home care provider is slated to open a new location in the Monadnock Region by the end of the year, according to a company official.

Armistead Senior Care — owned by Canada-based Nova Leap — has New Hampshire offices in Amherst, Lebanon and Littleton, as well as one in Burlington, Vt.

Regional Director Angela Pelletier said there is a need for Armistead's services in the Monadnock Region, and so the company decided it will open its fifth office here.

"The pandemic has certainly changed the way people think about staying home," she said in an email. "[Seniors] were 'forced' to stay home during Covid and realized either they needed services to assist them while they couldn't go out and about or families saw the day to day of their loved ones in a different light, realizing their loved ones needed more care."

Where the new local office will be is still up in the air, but she said the company is hoping to rent space in the Keene area.

Meanwhile, Pelletier said Armistead's Amherst office extended all of its services to Monadnock Region residents two weeks ago, and has 10 area clients so far.

In New Hampshire, 18 percent of the population was made up of those 65 and older in 2018 — the ninth highest rate in the country, according to the Population Reference Bureau.

And as of 2019, 20.7 percent of Cheshire County's population was in the same age group, U.S. Census data indicate.

Other options for senior home care in the area include Home Healthcare, Hospice & Community Services in Keene, Charlestown and Peterborough; Comfort Keepers in Keene; Interim HealthCare in Keene; and HomeWatch Caregivers of Peterborough and Nashua.

Armistead's services — which are available for senior-living communities as well as individual clients — include helping with household tasks like laundry and meal prep, assisting with bathing and dressing, driving clients to appointments or for errands, managing medication, providing dementia care and providing companionship.

Each office serves about 30 clients monthly, according to Pelletier.

Armistead accepts long-term care insurance, private pay and veteran benefits, she added, with pricing dependent on whether the client needs services for a few hours, a whole day or overnight.

Pelletier said the services cost roughly $28 to $42 per hour.

For more information on Armistead's services prior to its Keene-area opening, people can contact Amherst's Director of Client Services Karen Osgood at 546-6060 or email her at kosgood@armisteadseniorcare.com.

Olivia Belanger can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1439, or obelanger@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @OBelangerKS.

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