Nashua Crossings activity room rendering
Nashua, NH, – Nauset Construction has begun construction for a new memory care wing at the Nashua Crossings senior living community for Wellesley, Mass-based Benchmark Senior Living. The 14,675sf one-story addition will provide 20 new rooms specifically designed to care for seniors with memory impairment issues such as Alzheimer’s and dementia and will be comprised of one and two-bedrooms with a number of handicap-accessible units.
The addition will house a nurse station, large activity/living room, a dining room with an adjacent prep kitchen, and two exterior courtyard areas with porches for the residents. The community is expected to be completed by spring 2014.
Erecting a new community in an occupied healthcare setting requires that construction be conducted in a manner designed to be as unobtrusive as possible, so extra precautionary procedures will be in place throughout the process. “Although the addition will be a free standing structure, we have to tie the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems into the existing community, and anytime you’re working in an assisted living environment, you need to minimize disruptions to the residents and staff,” said Nauset Construction President Anthony Papantonis.
The existing community at Nashua Crossings was built in 1999 on a 3.5-acre parcel at 674 West Hollis St., and currently houses 64 assisted-living units. Designed by architects Udelsman Associates, the new memory care addition will be a wood-framed structure featuring wood trusses, with vinyl siding and asphalt roof shingles.
-more-
A 2010 National Survey of Residential Care Facilities conducted by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics released data that 42% of the residents living in residential care have Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, with this “silver tsunami” the Administration on Aging estimates that by 2050 the senior population will be 20% of the overall population.
