About Us

Parmenter Community Health and Hospice, founded in 1954, is an independent, non-profit health care agency providing services to the Boston MetroWest communities of Acton, Concord, Framingham, Hudson, Lincoln, Marlboro, Maynard, Natick, Needham, Newton, Stow, Sudbury, Waltham, Wayland, Wellesley, and Weston.

Core services include:

• Home Health Care/Parmenter Visiting Nurse services
• Wayside Hospice
• Community Education
• Clinics
• Food Pantry

Our Heritage

Deacon John Parmenter immigrated to Boston from England in 1639, eventually becoming a founder of Sudbury Plantation. There have been many Parmenters since, yet none left a legacy as enduring as Jonathan Maynard Parmenter.

Born in Wayland in 1831, Jonathan and his brother Henry were cattle farmers who seldom ventured from home. Quiet, likeable and hard working, Jonathan remained a bachelor and lived a simple life, displaying no outward signs of wealth. However, through investments in Southern cotton mills, he amassed an estate valued at $1.5 million at the time of his death in 1923.

In his will, Parmenter made substantial bequests to civic, religious and educational institutions including Harvard and Radcliffe. He also reserved $220,000 in trust to establish a hospital in Wayland. The trustees of his estate deemed a community health center would be the most appropriate use of the funds and in 1954 established Parmenter Health Center in Wayland as a non-profit health care provider.

The Center initially provided clinics, community education programs and visiting nurse services. The enactment of Medicare and Medicaid in the mid-1960’s reduced the need for clinics and Parmenter focused on becoming the community’s leading home health care agency. We continue to change as needs change, yet the legacy of Jonathan Maynard Parmenter carries us forward.

We are inspired and grateful for his vision, kindness and generosity.

Click here to view the video “A Legacy of Caring” for a more in-depth history.

Our Mission . . .

Parmenter Community Health provides all residents of our community with exceptional home care, hospice and supportive services enabling our clients to maintain or improve their current levels of function in the face of disease disability or the aging process. Furthermore, we enable the dying and their families to face the end of life with comfort and dignity.

Our Vision . . .

Any resident of Wayland, Sudbury, Weston and surrounding communities who has home care or hospice care needs will choose Parmenter Community Health as his or her local health care provider.

Our Core Values . . .

• Always place clients’ interests first
• Value and respect our committed and compassionate staff and volunteers
• Adhere to a strict code of ethical behavior
• Strive to be responsive to community needs
• As a private, not-for-profit organization, we serve all residents of our community regardless of ability to pay

Privacy Policy

Summary Notice of Privacy Practices

Medical information about you and your health is personal and we are committed to protecting your medical information. This Summary and the Notice of Privacy Practices describe how we protect the personal health information we have about you relative to the services you receive at Parmenter and Wayside Hospice. This includes individually identifiable information regarding your past, present or future health, treatment, or payment for health care services. This Summary and Notice also describes your rights with respect to your personal health information; how you can exercise your rights; how medical information about you may be used and disclosed, and; how you can access this information. Please read this material carefully.

Click here for the full Notice of Privacy Practices document

1. The Agency is required by law to:

• maintain the privacy of your personal health information;
• provide you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to the health information about you; and
• follow the terms of the notice that is currently in effect.

• Increased control over the uses and disclosures of your health information.
• The opportunity for more understanding of how your health information is used and to whom it is disclosed.
• Specific rights regarding your health information including:
  • the right to receive a paper copy of the Agency's Notice of Privacy Practices
  • the right to request restrictions on the uses and disclosures of health information
  • the right to receive confidential communication
  • the right of access to health information
  • the right to amend health care information
  • the right to receive an accounting of the disclosures of health information

If you believe your privacy has been violated, you may register a complaint to the Agency or the Secretary of Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Any complaints to the Agency should be made in writing to the Compliance Officer, Parmenter VNA & Community Care / Wayside Hospice at the address listed above.