(KAIR)--One of region's largest senior living providers, based in Kansas, has completed what it's calling "the largest acquisition in its nearly 50-year history," with the company adding 15 assisted living communities across the state, including several in the local area.

Topeka-based Midwest Health, in a release, says the acquired facilities, previously operated as Vintage Park, "will now join the Homestead Assisted Living family," with the company calling it a "strategic expansion" that "adds about 600 apartments and more than 315 employees to Midwest Health’s growing network, which now serves about 4,000 seniors daily and employs more than 3,800 team members across six states."

Locally, the change includes facilities in Atchison, Hiawatha, Holton, Tonganoxie and Wamego. 

Midwest Health President, Brett Klausman, in the release, calls the acquisition "a milestone" for the company's Kansas expansion, saying the move means "supporting Kansas seniors and creating jobs for Kansans," by "investing in the future of our state while caring for our neighbors.”

CEO and Midwest Health co-founder, Jim Klausman, in the release, says the company "has always believed that great care starts locally," adding that the services these [acquired] communities provide are essential – especially in rural areas where both access to health care and jobs are needed."

Midwest Health was founded in Topeka in 1977, growing into "a leading senior living provider with more than 100 communities across six Midwestern states," including Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Illinois.