BeeHive Homes of Kalispell doubled its capacity for senior assisted living care when the business opened a new 19-room home last week.

Owner-administrator Barry Melchior said they expect the first residents to move in next week to the new residence, which specializes in memory care for seniors with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

“They can come in and pick out a room now,” Melchior said of potential newcomers.

Melchior and his wife Billie Jo took over BeeHive Homes of Kalispell from previous owners Josh and Jessi Burlage in 2016. The plan for a second home has been in the works for over a year, and last week they officially opened the new facility approximately 40 feet west of the first facility at 242 Stillwater Road.

Melchior said they are still awaiting their first resident in the new location, and rooms are available for seniors and their families to move in as soon as next week. “We do immediate placements,” Melchior explained, which is typical of memory care assisted-living facilities.

BeeHive Homes offers 24/7-staffing and a suite of services specifically tailored to help residents with memory-care issues and diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. Billie Jo has more than 20 years of experience as a registered nurse, and Barry has a master’s degree in health care and senior care experience dating back to 1993. The owners are intimately familiar with the needs of their specific patients, and they decided to expand into a second building to serve even more of this local population.

“We’re meeting a need in the community for memory care,” Melchior noted.

The new facility, which Melchior described as essentially a “duplicate of the first home,” will include 19 spacious rooms, three meals a day, activities and an expanded secure outdoor courtyard linking the two homes.

Melchior noted the second home basically replicates the successful strategy they have employed for four years at BeeHive Homes. They have been 100% occupied since opening in 2016.

BeeHive Homes is an assisted-living franchise with more than 20 locations across the country.

The Melchiors use their expertise and a few special touches to make BeeHive Homes of Kalispell an attractive choice for residents and their families. The homes are comfortable and carefully managed, and they make a point of taking special field trips to places such as Bibler Gardens.

They also offer adult daycare for full-time caregivers to drop off seniors from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Participants in the adult daycare program are invited to get involved with all of the daily activities at BeeHive Homes, such as crafts and music.

The Melchiors are hiring 16 new staff members with the new addition, and said new caretakers have been trained in the first home to start welcoming residents into the second.

BeeHive Homes of Kalispell offers tours Monday through Friday, and Barry Melchior can be reached directly at 871-8667.

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at bserbin@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.