Donor Stories—Senecal

NSUH Employee #1 Continues Her Legacy

Jan Senecal—whose badge and paycheck read Employee #1—is a legend as North Shore University Hospital’s first employee. Although Jan no longer collects a paycheck since retiring in 1994, she continues a proud tradition of volunteering at the Hospital.

Jan—an only child—attended Stephen’s College in Columbia, Missouri, and graduated from the Columbia School of Business with a BS in business administration in 1948. Jan’s first job was working for TWA in New York City and in Los Angeles.

In 1953 Jan applied for a position as a secretary in personnel at a new hospital—North Shore University Hospital. In the early days there weren’t too many patients, and Jan recalls trustees loaning money to the Hospital to pay employees! Jan was promoted to director of personnel, a position she held for 14 years before accepting a position as an administrative assistant to Dr. Lawrence Scherr, chairman of the Department of Medicine. Jan was then promoted to coordinator of medical student programs where she guided and counseled Cornell University medical students for 23 years.

Jan began volunteering while she was still an employee, offering to work on Thanksgiving day and other holidays. Today Jan works one day a week in the Patient’s Library distributing magazines and books to patients. She also serves as co-liaison of the Junior Volunteer Program. Jan included a percentage bequest in her will to support the Daniel Payson Medical Library Fund at NSUH. She appreciated the services and assistance provided by the library staff over the years to the medical students who use the library. In Jan’s words, “The Hospital has become my family.”