If you’ve ever felt an instant feeling of welcoming and warmth when you walk through the doors of Roswell Park, you might need to thank Juan Stanfield.

Stanfield, an Environmental Services employee at RPCI, takes pride in making sure that the first impression that patients and visitors get is a great one. “My job is to make this a home away from home,” he said. “It’s extremely rewarding. I make sure that everything looks right from the moment you walk in.”

For Stanfield, the job goes beyond making sure RPCI is a comfortable environment for patients and their loved ones. It’s about making a real connection.

“It means the world to me to interact with patients,” he said. “If I’ve made one patient smile, and if that patient tells another patient and it gets back to me, that means I’ve done my job. My job is about interacting with people who need the comfort and support.”

Stanfield is engaged in the community, coaching little-league football and leading other youth programs. He also actively participates in major RPCI events, including announcements for RPCI’s Magnet designation and, more recently, the leadership gifts from Circle of 10 donors to the Making Room to Save Lives capital campaign.

Like many RPCI employees, Stanfield looks at life from a different perspective after seeing how cancer can affect families. His greater appreciation for his own life helps him to better serve patients.

“You need to take the time out to make sure that you’ve listened to them, you’ve understood, you’ve given some advice, a friendly hug and wished them the best day, because they’ll be back the next day,” he said. “But we’ve got to be ready for the next day. We can’t let our guard down, because cancer’s not going to let its guard down.”

What advice would Stanfield give to someone newly diagnosed with cancer? “It’s Roswell Park first. Because in my heart and in my mind, I feel that this is the best place to start the road to recovery,” he said. “This is exactly where I would want to be if I had cancer. I would go to no other place on the planet than Roswell Park.”

Stanfield’s commitment to RPCI’s mission shines through in his work each day. “It’s my home away from home too. I love what I do, and I love the employees that I work with,” he said. “This is where I want to retire and to have a share in making sure that someday, cancer is cured. I want to be a part of that, somehow, some way.”