A Lawrence franchise providing in-home assisted living care was shut down by its parent company in Ohio last week, leaving its clients in a state of confusion and concern.

Sharron Witters, who has used the firm Comfort Keepers during the past few months to help take care of her husband, was upset when she suddenly found out Thursday that the company’s caregivers were not allowed to provide assistance. “My huge objection is the fact that the corporation shut it down and made no effort to contact any of us,” Witters said.

Seth Movsovitz said he had owned the Lawrence Comfort Keepers franchise for four years. On Thursday he received a “cease and desist” order by certified mail sent by the company’s headquarters in Dayton, Ohio. Movsovitz said he immediately stopped operations to about 50 clients. His franchise arrangement was terminated, he said.

“I didn’t get any warning. I was abiding by what they asked me to do,” Movsovitz said Tuesday.

Jeff Bevis, executive vice president with Comfort Keepers in Dayton, declined to say why Movsovitz was shut down to “protect the confidentiality” of the Lawrence franchise owner. He said Lawrence clients would be provided for by Comfort Keepers franchises in Topeka and Overland Park.

Movsovitz, however, said he planned to start his own company, Kansas Home Health Care, which will provide skilled home nursing care. He said he had been in the process of establishing that company for the last several months and had hoped he would be able to operate both Comfort Keepers and his skilled nursing firm because they provide different levels of service. He said he’d been waiting on the proper state licensing.

“I’m moving on to Kansas Home Health Care, and I’m very excited about offering a lot more services than I could with Comfort Keepers,” Movsovitz said.

Movsovitz said he intended to operate his new business out of what had been the Comfort Keepers office at 900 Ind. He declined to release more details at this time, including whether former clients or employees could move with him. He said he was working with an attorney and reviewing his options.

Witters said she had no qualms about Movsovitz or other local Comfort Keepers employees. She blamed corporate owners for poorly handling the Lawrence affair and leaving clients and employees in the dark.

“They are not working with cans of fruit,” she said. “Things that sound good on paper when you are in business school don’t necessarily pan out when you are talking about people.”

Bevis said he didn’t know why Lawrence clients weren’t informed more quickly about the transition. He said taking care of the clients was important.

“We certainly tried to follow up with the neighboring offices and get the transition as smooth as possible,” he said.

Witters said she probably would continue to work with Comfort Keepers in Topeka despite her anger. She noted that clients sign a “noncompete” contract for services. That prevents them from hiring caregivers who have quit Comfort Keepers for one year after the client’s contract has ended. Failure to live up to that agreement could result in more than $7,000 in damages.

Because the Lawrence office was shut down, however, Witters wasn’t sure how binding the contract is.