Laurel House Comfort Care Home sits on Fair Street in Newark and serves Wayne County residents who need end-of-life care, working a bit like Newark Wayne Community Hospital does in serving the local area but with a much warmer, smaller setting, and you see right away that the place used to be an old church and then a doctor's office, now changed by volunteers who spent months fixing things up, adding bedrooms with fireplaces, a full kitchen, a family area, a meditation room, and even a wrap-around deck outside so families can visit and find some quiet, and all through this process, all sorts of folks pitched in, with carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and painters, bringing donated supplies like furniture, beds, even the whole house generator.
Jennifer Habecker leads as the Director, drawing on her experience with finance, marketing, and healthcare, but it's the caring group of staff and trained volunteers, not many in number, who handle most of the daily help-things like bathing, dressing, medicine reminders, and serving hot meals; the home only has two resident bedrooms, so every person in care gets plenty of attention, with personalized comfort care plans-and if residents need memory care, especially for Alzheimer's or dementia, there are programs, safety features, and activities adjusted to memory needs. Laurel House gives comfort, emotional support, and even some spiritual care, always keeping the focus on a safe, relaxed, and simple setting where folks spend their last days with loving helpers and their own family nearby.
The mission here, as a nonprofit, is to give Wayne County a welcoming, volunteer-driven place for families facing the toughest times, relying on community support, donations, and people who donate time in the house, yard, or office, and there's always a need for more helpers, since the board and core team want to keep things going and open for those with nowhere else to turn for safe, gentle care at life's end, treating everyone fairly, no matter who they are, but making sure referrals work-always with a terminal diagnosis, a doctor's order for DNR or MOLST, and only for people who can safely be looked after here, since they can't handle things like IVs or tube feedings. It's a simple, home-like spot where everything's focused on kindness, making things easier for both residents and their families, with no charge for care, thanks to donations and the hard work of volunteers, and Laurel House keeps on serving the community, quietly, without fuss, right in the heart of Newark.
