40 | JANUARY 30 • 2020 

Health

LYNNE KONSTANTIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
A

s far back as Debbie Glazer can 
remember, she wanted to be a doc-
tor.
“I wanted to cure cancer,
” she says. “Being 
exposed to the world of disability and med-
ical issues impacted me and shaped what 
direction my life would take.
”
But as she got older, she started honing 
in on the differences between “caring” ver-
sus “curing” and realized her personality 
and passion were more predisposed to the 
former. During high school at Andover 
in Bloomfield Hills and into college at the 
University of Michigan, she considered ath-
letic training and physical therapy.
“I wanted to help people feel better from 
whatever they were living with,
” says Glazer, 
41.
To that end, she tried out a nursing class at 
U-M — and loved it.
Glazer graduated with a degree in kine-
siology (the study of the mechanics of 
body movements) before attending nurs-
ing school, also at U-M. Between degrees, 
Glazer took the opportunity to pursue 
another one of her passions, but this one 
was just for fun — she took a crash course in 
manis and pedis, earning her nail technician 
license.
Back at U-M for her nursing degree, she 
completed clinical rotations in the trauma 
and burn intensive care unit, hospice nursing 
and other specialties.
“I loved the intimacy,
” Glazer says. “Being 
able to just be with the people, I could focus 
on making them comfortable and feel better. 
I could help their families. I didn’
t have the 
pressure of trying to fix them.
“It’
s such a gift being invited into that part 
of someone’
s life.
”
Armed with her nursing degree, Glazer 
worked in hospice and oncology nursing, 
orthopedic nursing and taught medical/
surgical nursing at the Oakland Community 
College Highland Lakes Campus in 
Waterford, where she’
s still on the adjunct 
faculty. 
She’
s also been raising her two young 
daughters with her husband, Seth. Although 
Glazer grew up attending Congregation 
Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, she and her 
family are now members of Temple Israel in 

West Bloomfield, where they live.
“I feel like everybody has roles in their 
family and in society,
” Glazer says. “I’
ve 
always been a nurturer. I ask first, ‘
What can 
I do for you?’
 And my kids are also like that. 
They’
ve been exposed to what I do enough 
that they understand the importance of 
being patient and being there for others.
”

A NEW PASSION
Despite her very full life, Glazer still had 
a nagging feeling that she could be doing 
more. In 2014, still doing nails for friends 
and family on the side, she was asked to do 
a favor for a friend: The friend referred her 
to a woman who was homebound with end-
stage lung failure from a rejected bone-
marrow transplant.
“I would go over, do her nails at her 
house,
” Glazer says. “She was fatigued; she 
had an oxygen tank. I visited her for about 
four months, until she passed.
“That experience was so much more pro-
found to me than any other patient-nurse 
experience I’
ve had,
” she says. “It was so 
much more intimate; it had so much more 
meaning. My brain started thinking — I real-

ly enjoyed this. I’
m giving a gift but I’
m also 
receiving a gift.
“It was life-changing,
” Glazer says. “It 
changed my whole path. I knew this was my 
passion.
”
From that first experience came others, 
through word of mouth. She was approached 
by someone whose mom had brain cancer, 
another whose friend had dementia and 
another close childhood friend whose moth-
er had pancreatic cancer.
“My time with her was very important,
” 
Glazer says. “She was a guidance counselor, 
professionally. And she’
s always guided me. 
But that experience with her solidified what I 
wanted to do.
”
In 2017, Glazer helped create a salon 
enrichment program for Jewish Hospice 
& Chaplaincy Network. And, in 2018, she 
founded Comfort Salon Services, providing 
mobile salon services to clients who are 
unable to come to the salon due to their 
physical or medical limitations, whether it’
s a 
senior who needs his nails cut, a mom-to-be 
on bed rest or people with chronic long-term 
diseases. 
In March 2019, Glazer received her 

ALL PHOTOS PROVIDED BY DEBBIE GLAZER/COMFORT SALON FOUNDATION
ALL PHOTOS PROVIDED BY DE

A local nurse launches a salon and
foundation, combining her passions for
caring for people — and the world of beauty.

Providing 
Comfort

A client blows 
kisses with 
Debbie Glazer.

