Greater Toronto's Top Employers (2025) Magazine - Flipbook - Page 114
114
( 2025 )
SPONSOR CONTENT
North York General focuses on the future of care
E
very workday, registered
nurse Shabana Dhanji
provides the best care
she can to cancer patients in the same clinic
that provided treatment to her late
mother 30 years ago. The passion
Dhanji has for her current job as
charge nurse in the chemotherapy
clinic at North York General
Hospital (NYGH) is the same as
it was when she started with the
organization 10 years ago.
“Not only do I get to do good for
society, I get to honour my mother
every single day,” she says. “We
treat everybody with respect. My
colleagues treat me with respect,
and my managers treat me with
respect. The hospital’s values jibe
with mine, so it makes it easier to
work.”
It’s those values of compassion,
integrity and respect that have
kept current president and CEO
Dr. Everton Gooden at North
York General for 23 years. “People
feel welcomed,” Gooden says. “It
feels like a family. When you walk
through the hallways, you may not
be able to define it, but you will
feel it. The calmness that you feel
is an extension of the organization’s culture.”
Encompassing central and
east North York and people in
surrounding districts, NYGH’s
rapidly growing local area is home
to the highest concentration of
seniors in Toronto. As well, more
than 50 per cent of people served
by NYGH are immigrants and
over 50 per cent identify as part
of a visible minority group. “We
consistently and regularly engage
with the community to make sure
that we are meeting their needs,”
says Gooden.
As head of the country’s
top-ranking community academic
hospital, Gooden is leading its
largest redevelopment since it was
built in 1968. A new patient care
tower will add more inpatient
Photo goes here
The labour and delivery team at North York General Hospital cares for a mother and newborn after delivery.
beds and transform NYGH’s campus of care, currently across seven
sites. Over the next few years,
NYGH will also build a new 528bed long-term care development.
“I really, truly feel that this is
a special place,” Gooden says.
“When people come through the
doors, they feel like their care is
personalized. People leave feeling
like it was care tailored to them.”
Dhanji can provide that exceptional quality of care to her patients because she has the support
of her colleagues and managers,
she says. Whether she is leading
a pilot project with the goal to improve patients’ experience in the
chemo clinic or consulting with
the hospital’s foundation to create
an on-site gym for staff, Dhanji
says her work is valued.
“I really, truly feel that this
is a special place. When
people come through the
doors, they feel like their
care is personalized. People
leave feeling like it was care
tailored to them.”
— Dr. Everton Gooden
President and CEO
“North York General is a very
forward-thinking hospital,”
she says. “We know we make a
difference in people’s lives.” With
a diverse workforce serving diverse
communities, Gooden believes it
is crucial that every member of
NYGH’s professional team of just
over 5,000 feels that they belong.
His passion for equity, diversity
and inclusion (EDI) led him to
