For 44 years, Janice Reynolds has honed her business acumen operating a pharmacy in the Queens community with her husband, acting on boards for theatres and music festivals, and by being hands on when the task calls for it. As full as Janice’s schedule may already sound, people with her desire to help always find extra time. For the past three years, having handled four decades of accounting, Janice now lends her skills to the Queens General Hospital Foundation Board of Trustees.
As part of the Executive Building Committee, Janice has contributed to many projects involving expansion and procurement, including the identification and purchase of the dentist’s office that would come to be the Queens General Hospital Ledvina Building. Her involvement doesn’t stop there though.
Janice has learned what’s important to running a business, which means sometimes rolling up her sleeves and getting into the trenches with everyone else. In the revitalization of the Ledvina Building, Janice was there with hammer in hand, helping install new windows, doors, working the property surrounding the building, and even in designing the beautiful sign that is now installed on the side of the building. Along with these important touches, Janice was also keen on getting the building up to par with current accessibility standards, ensuring ramps were in place and accessible parking was available, along with various other accessibility additions throughout the building’s revitalization.
Janice attributes her hands-on style to the way she operates her own business, “I’ve always looked after the building. If something needed to be done, within reason, I was the one doing it,” she says.
Running a pharmacy in Liverpool alongside her husband has given her an intimate understanding of the importance of health. Throughout the pandemic, when plexiglass shields were installed in her own pharmacy, as they have been throughout the province, her staff recognized how much safer and healthier they felt throughout the cold season. Janice immediately reassured her staff that the barriers could stay in place long after the pandemic for their own health and safety.
Janice’s can-do attitude is an example of where her values so closely align with the foundation’s – there are things that need to be done at Queens General Hospital, and Janice is never far when a job needs to be done.
“Queens General Hospital Foundations does a fabulous job of supporting the hospital, and the hospital is such a valuable asset to the Queens community. I’m also incredibly proud of the work that has gone into the Ledvina Building, which will be so important for attracting and retaining new physicians to the area,” she says.
Throughout the pandemic, Janice and the QGHF Board had to shift their priorities to ensure the hospital was able to procure the basic necessities – garbage bags, gloves, masks – a tough task when every health facility worldwide is attempting to do the same. But as much as Janice does, she’s quick to give credit where it’s due, and praised those on the Board and the hospital staff who had a hand in securing those necessities.
Although Janice runs a private business, she values her role in the broader health community and tracks her success on how much she can contribute. “It’s been an honour to support the hospital staff and the health community as a whole for the past 44 years.”
