Laurel Fultz
Laurel Fultz is a healthcare leader and advocate for compassionate in-home care whose journey into the industry was shaped long before her professional career began. Raised by her grandparents alongside her mother, Laurel spent much of her childhood in nursing homes after her grandmother suffered a stroke and later developed a brain tumor. Those early experiences exposed her to both the emotional and practical realities of caregiving at a young age and planted the foundation for the work she would eventually dedicate her life to. After losing her grandmother, Laurel stepped away from healthcare for a period and managed a coffee shop, where a chance connection with a regular customer ultimately opened the door to her first role in home healthcare. Without formal college training in the field, she built her career through hands-on learning, determination, and a deep commitment to understanding patient care from the ground up.
Over the years, Laurel steadily advanced through the healthcare industry, beginning in entry-level caregiving roles and eventually overseeing a 30-bed memory support community serving residents with Alzheimer’s and dementia diagnoses for nearly six years. Her leadership experience, combined with her natural empathy and strong communication skills, prepared her for her current role as Director of Community Relations at Careology Home Healthcare
in the Grand Rapids Metropolitan Area. In her day-to-day work, Laurel connects families, healthcare providers, hospitals, rehab centers, and senior communities to ensure patients receive high-quality care in the comfort of their own homes. She also oversees human resources responsibilities including hiring, staff education, and team development while helping expand awareness of Careology’s mission throughout the community.
Driven by both personal experience and professional purpose, Laurel is passionate about helping seniors age in place with dignity, comfort, and personalized support. She believes there is truly “no place like home,” especially for individuals who have spent years building memories and routines within their own spaces. Her work centers on showing families that seniors can receive compassionate, high-level care at home rather than immediately transitioning into assisted living facilities. Known for her honesty, transparency, and heart-centered leadership style, Laurel approaches every relationship with the belief that connection is more than networking—it is about making sure no family feels alone during some of life’s most difficult moments.
What do you attribute your success to?
I would say the right people believing in me and me believing in myself. I think that's what has made me as successful as I am. Even when I have doubts about something I'm doing, usually I will try it, and if it fails, then you try the next thing. You tweak what you're doing, because sometimes great ideas come from just random ideas, right? Great success can come from something that's outside-of-the-box thinking. So, like I said, I connect the dots in my new role, so I'm doing a lot of the marketing, and I think that sometimes my outside-of-the-box thinking, because I wasn't...I didn't go to business school, I wasn't a marketer before, I think just thinking outside of the box and giving it a shot, that's what's made me the most successful.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Never give up on yourself. Just because I didn't go to college for my role doesn't mean I couldn't achieve my goals. I didn't do any of that formal education, but because I put so much time and effort into learning healthcare and being hands-on in healthcare, I still was able to achieve every goal I've ever wanted and grow with each company I've been with. So I think my best advice for people is don't give up on yourself. It doesn't take years and years of college to become who you want to be. More hands-on and more actual experience is more beneficial to a company than you sitting sometimes behind a college desk for years of your life.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Learn as much as you can. Anytime that somebody offers you an in-service or an educational opportunity, learn it. Never be afraid to ask questions, because once you get questions answered, then you can answer it to somebody else. And put your best foot forward. Just show up and show out. I always tell people you can be taught anything on the job. I can give you all the tools, I can teach you everything I know, but you have to have the want, and you have to have the drive to soak in all that knowledge, to take it into your own perspective, and run with it. Nobody can force you to learn something. Nobody can force you to want to learn something. You have to want it, and if you want it, just like myself, you will continue to grow. You will continue to put different notches on your belts, or wear different hats in companies, because you become more valuable with somebody when you know as much as you know, so continue to learn.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think there are tons of different opportunities. One of the main opportunities that comes to mind, and one of the biggest challenges, is growth. I think there's a lot of room to grow in this industry because everybody's going to become a senior at some point, everybody's going to need care at some point, or everybody knows somebody that currently needs care. My biggest challenge is making sure that people understand what Careology does, what our company does, that we provide private duty inside of their homes. I think that sometimes people think of private duty like our care staff can only sit with my loved one and only do games and do laundry and light housekeeping, not help with all the things that an assisted living does. I think that my biggest challenge is getting our name out so that people know that they can stay home and they don't have to go to assisted living. If that is what they choose to do, that's perfectly fine. We're never going to try to sway somebody's mind from doing what they want to do, but there's no place like home, and I don't want to leave my home. I've never wanted to move in my entire life because you're comfortable in your own home. So I think that seniors are comfortable in their own home. They've been in these homes for years and years and years. So it's my biggest challenge and my biggest opportunity for growth is just getting our name out there so that people know who we are, what we do, and what we're able to provide.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I think respect is the main value that I try to live by. We have to respect others to get respect. And I think the other one would be honesty. I'm never going to go out and portray that I am somebody, or that the company that I work for, Careology, is something that we're not. Because you have to just sell yourself how you are, so being transparent, being honest, and giving respect. Those are the values that I live by in my personal and my work life.