GERMANTOWN, New York — A leading senior care and wellness community in Massachusetts has become a member of the Carmelite System, a Catholic not-for-profit health network sponsored by the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm.

The D’Youville Life & Wellness Community of Lowell, Massachusetts, is the newest member of the system, which has its headquarters in Germantown. The community “will continue to advance its mission of compassionate senior care while maintaining a strong local presence in Massachusetts, said an Aug. 13 news release.

The agreement follows a request by D’Youville’s founder and current Catholic sponsor, the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa, that the community form a new association with another Catholic elder care entity because the Sisters of Charity have experienced “a decline of numbers over time,” it said.

Facilities in the Carmelite System currently serve communities in Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio and Ireland. “Each facility is dedicated to the mission and core values of the Carmelite System and its sponsor, the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm,” according to the system’s mission statement.

Through the transition to a new sponsor, D’Youville will move forward in maintaining “a strong local identity” in Lowell based on principles established and nurtured since the organization was founded in 1960 “while keeping with the Carmelite sisters’ mission of Catholic elder care to seniors,” the release said.

The approval process for the transition is expected to take three to six months.

As a member of Carmelite System, Naomi Prendergast, D’Youville’s president and CEO, will retain her leadership role. The facility also will retain its existing level of services to residents and tenants, the organization’s local governing board and its commitment to providing professional and compassionate care.

“The vision of the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa has created a continuum of care which meets the varied needs of the elderly,” said Mother Mark Louis Randall, prioress general of the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm.

“A deep sense of spirit and vitality can be felt across the D’Youville campus, where residents are welcomed and loved and where the local community becomes family,” she said in a statement. “The Carmelite sisters are pleased to extend our presence into Lowell while providing dignified, compassionate and respectful care for residents that honors their individuality and the sanctity of their lives.”


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