The local non-profit organization Visiting Nurse Home & Hospice recently sold their building at 1184 East Main Road in Portsmouth. The agency, which has been serving the community for over 70 years, is relocating to 438 East Main Road at Forest Avenue, while their former building was bought by another non-profit called Looking Upwards in December.
On February 21, 2023, Visiting Nurse Home & Hospice announced that they were selling their Portsmouth, Rhode Island headquarters, a 21,858 square foot building, with Kirby Properties for $3.2 million. Terms of the deal with Looking Upwards were not discolosed.
VNH&H CEO Jennifer Fairbank said that the nursing agency is so grateful for the vision of those who came before. “Because of generous benefactors, the agency was able to acquire our building back in 1995. At the time, we needed 22,000 square feet to store medical supplies and paper records. Today we need half of that space.”
Visiting Nurse expects to be done with renovations to their new space by late January. In the meantime, staff members are working out of their North Kingstown office, at home and other temporary spaces. Fairbank added that, “measures have been put in place to ensure no disruption of service to patients and referral partners. We look forward to serving our community for years to come.
Back in July of 2023, VNH&H Board Chair, Mark Hough, said that selling the building was part of the agency’s comprehensive strategic plan after the VNH&H Board of Directors voted to sell their building and seek more appropriately sized office space on Aquidneck Island. He added that “to continue our legacy of serving all who need us, we are focusing on strategic growth within a challenging healthcare environment.”
In 2023 the agency made over 82,326 home health visits to 4085 individuals in our community.
Founded in Newport in 1950, Visiting Nurse Home & Hospice has grown from a small grassroots homecare agency to a regional home care organization employing over 200 people. Headquartered in Middletown, Rhode Island, they also have branch offices in North Kingstown and as well as a supply depot in Swansea, Massachusetts. We provide home care nursing, rehabilitation, hospice & palliative care, maternal child health, social work, and community clinics to over 600 patients daily and take pride in living our mission of providing optimal health and quality of life for individuals across Rhode Island and in Southeastern Massachusetts.
