Local Businesses Back Residential Hospice House

Business owners and others are stepping up to support a residential hospice in Harford County. From left are Andrew Klein, chair of the Residential Hospice Board of Directors; Timothy J. Smidt, Glock Smidt Engineering, Inc.; Joseph C. Thompson, L.S., Thompson & Associates, LLC; Martin C. Meehan, P.E., Glock Smidt Engineering, Inc.; Gregory A. Bruce, Ground Tek, Inc.; Steven J. Glock, Glock Smidt Engineering, Inc.; W. Paul Thompson, Jr., Architectural Design Works; Stephen Gorski, Frederick Ward Associates; Linda Sue (Susie) Comer, Comer Construction, Inc; Stephen M. Brown, Skarda and Associates, Inc.; Beverly Dean-Crabtree, Upper Chesapeake Health Foundation Residential Hospice fundraising coordinator and William R. Minton, Jarrettsville Builders. Not shown are Torrence M. Pierce, P.E., Frederick Ward Associates and Brian Bartell, Ecotone, Inc.

It took Bill Minton, President of Jarrettsville Builders, only a few minutes to grasp just how important it was to help Upper Chesapeake Health Foundation build the new Upper Chesapeake Health Residential Hospice. 

Responding to the community need, Jarrettsville Builders was one of several companies that have donated in-kind services to get the building started.  Minton assembled a “dream design team” for the project consisting of architects, engineers and construction companies. “Most of them are donating their services at either no or marginal costs,” he said, adding “It really is quite amazing, particularly given the fact that these are such tough economic times.”

One of the first people whom Minton contacted was Paul Thompson, with Architectural Design Works. “Bill Minton had decided that he would get 110 percent behind this project,”  Thompson said. “As soon as he asked me to consider working on it, I said, ‘Absolutely. Let’s do it.’ And we have never looked back, ” he said. 

Forest Hill-based Comer Construction also has played a vital role in bringing the residence to life.  Comer Construction President Susie Comer knows only too well how invaluable hospice care can be. Her father, Marvin Comer, the company’s founder, died in 2005 after a long battle with diabetes and cancer.

Construction of the residential hospice is dependent upon support from the community. The core design team and others have collectively donated some $972,170 worth of services. That figure includes the Klein family’s donation of the land in Forest Hill, where the residence will be built.  Construction will not begin until 80 percent of the funding is received. Total cost for construction is estimated to be $2.6 million. To date, Upper Chesapeake Health Foundation has received commitments of $1.8 million.

 “It really is people and businesses from Harford County who are making this happen, not just my family who contributed the land” observed Andy Klein. “Harford County is a close-knit community, and there are a lot of people who have lived here their whole lives,” he said. “But not everybody can take care of their terminally ill loved ones at home. At least, this will provide our neighbors—indeed, all of us—with a hospice option close to home, as opposed to traveling miles away. And that is so very, very important,”  Klein said.

For more information on this building campaign, visit www.uchospice.org, an article from HBL Online or go to the July 2008 Real Etate and Construction insert to the Harford Business Ledger.