Three senior centers are opening in the Mahoning Valley. The locations will be in Mahoning, Trumbull and Ashtabula Counties.

The Buckeye PACE is opening the centers in former Rite Aid buildings. Each building was once part of the pharmacy chain. Now, the buildings are becoming centers to help seniors.

“We serve seniors ages 55 and above who are starting to need a little bit of help in their homes. Just making due. Taking care of their housekeeping, and their medical needs. Everything that we do, we provide right here out of our center,” said Marcie Campbell, vice president of marketing for One Senior Care Buckeye PACE.

These facilities will allow people in the valley to live independently for as long as possible.

“These are folk that are otherwise might be ready or close to being placed in the nursing facility and we definitely don’t want that to happen. We want our seniors to stay right here at Youngstown and stay at home,” said Campbell.

The centers provide services like transportation, family and caregiver support, primary and specialty physician services, nutritional counseling, family style meals and home care.

“We have socialization, family style meals, therapy style exercise. We have a clinic here as well and that's where all of our seniors who participated in this program will come here to see their doctors, and their nurses, and have all of their needs met,” said Campbell.

The company chose the Rite Aid buildings because of their open design, and location in the valley. The three locations allow Buckeye PACE to serve those in rural areas and those who don’t have as much access to healthcare.

It also helps create jobs in Mahoning, Trumbull and Ashtabula Counties.

“Our seniors in this area, they built this community, we’re here to give back to those seniors, and when Buckeye PACE opens our doors, we’re going to be opening for jobs and really providing business and putting money back into the city of Youngstown and the surrounding area,” said Campbell.

Campbell said because the buildings are so open, it puts seniors in a safer environment.

“Everything about the Rite Aids were a great fit. Where the Rite Aids have closed, there are some blight in the communities and it's really important to us to give back to the communities, rehab these properties. They really fit the footprint of our services so well with the wide open floor plans and good supervision lines for floor plans and good supervision lines for participants when they are here,” said Campbell.

Construction on the former Rite Aid buildings is expected to be completed summer of 2025, and the senior facilities are expected to ready to open in the fall.