The Peterborough offices of Home Healthcare, Hospice & Community Services have moved from its longtime location on Main Street to 9 Vose Farm Road, Suite 110.
The move was finalized in December and was done so in an effort to become part of what CEO Maura McQueeney identifies as a social services neighborhood that has been growing in that area of Vose Farm Road.
“We were looking for an expanded space to better serve our clients and our employees,” McQueeney said.
The location already is home to The River Center, MAPS Counseling Services, Monadnock Family Services and Monadnock Worksource, organizations that HCS collaborates with on a regular basis.
“And from time to time we’ll have clients who receive services from one of those agencies,” McQueeney said. “So just the opportunity to walk down the hall and talk to our colleagues from other agencies will be helpful. Just to see what those organizations are up to.”
McQueeney said that the office space on Main Street had worked for the Peterborough location for decades, but the chance to move closer to the partner organizations for a comparable rental cost and better layout was too appealing to pass up.
“It gives us an opportunity to grow, but not grow our overhead,” McQueeney said.
She said the HCS team, which consist of 32 employees in Peterborough, including nurses, licensed nursing assistants, physical therapists, physical therapy assistants, occupational therapists, Certified Occupational Therapy Assistants, social workers, a bereavement coordinator, chaplain and support staff, typically meet in the mornings to exchange plans for the day and coordinate visits. Having a space that properly allows for that is an added benefit.
“We were realizing we needed more larger room opportunities for our staff,” McQueeney said. “Because some of that communication is best fact to face, in the moment.”
While McQueeney said that the offices can seem vacant outside of a few staff members during the middle of the day, there are quite a few clients that use their space on a daily basis. They host foot clinics, hospice support groups and offer bereavement services, while staff is constantly coming and going throughout the day as they perform around 100 visits a day. Home care staff provide services such as visiting nurses, rehabilitation therapies and hospice care. HCS also offers Healthy Starts for pregnant women, children and families. The bereavement service is for anyone in the community, not just family and friends of those who used HCS.
“It’s a service to the community, for anyone who needs it,” McQueeney said.
McQueeney said there is also the opportunity for the community to use the common areas of the Vose Farm Road space.
“As we get settled in our space. we’ll see how it can be better used for the community as well as ourselves,” McQueeney said. She said that it would be ideal for support groups and even non health related entities looking for a common place to gather.
HCS is also part of the Monadnock Home Visiting Alliance, and the group regularly meets at the home base of one of the member organizations, like The River Center, which was another reason to be closer.
McQueeney said clients and staff had to go through a series of hallways, doors and elevators to get to the old office. That is no longer the case.
“And the access from the parking lot to the office was an appeal to us,” McQueeny said.
The Peterborough location is one of three offices for HCS, along with its main campus on Marlborough Street in Keene and Charlestown.
On Friday, HCS will host an open house from 2 to 4 p.m. where attendees can meet HCS leadership, tour the facility – and eat chocolate. For more information, visit https://hcsservices.org.