Janine Finck-Boyle, MBA/HCA, LNHA, has never met Lynda Carter, the actress best known for playing Wonder Woman in the 1970s television series of the same name. But as a child, Finck-Boyle spent many a day — no matter the outside temperature — sporting a Wonder Woman bathing suit in recognition of her idol.
“I was so obsessed that one day I made myself a Wonder Woman crown out of construction paper and my mom says the glue was dripping all down my forehead when I came out wearing it,” Finck-Boyle recalls.
More than 30 years later, Finck-Boyle still sports the look on occasion, though she’s upgraded to a scarf emblazoned with a Wonder Woman emblem that she received from former colleague and close friend Gail Jernigan, MBA/HCA, the senior administrator of Transitional Care Center Capital City. Jernigan presented her with the scarf as Finck-Boyle was preparing to close the long-established and beloved Washington, DC, nursing home and hospice center The Washington Home.
Finck-Boyle had been the facility’s administrator/executive director for six years before the board of directors sold the property to Sidwell Friends, the prestigious private school that sat next door.
“Gail gave me the scarf and said, ‘I think you’re going to need this,’” says Finck-Boyle, now 48.
“As we prepared to close, there were days that were good and days that were not good, so sometimes I would walk through the building with the scarf on just for fun, to try to make people smile.”
The 2016 closure of The Washington Home took its toll on Finck-Boyle and her husband of 18 years, Pete, their son Finn, now 13, and daughter Katie, now 10.
“My children grew up in The Washington Home, coming to visit in costume for Halloween or just to spend time with the residents when they were off school,” Finck-Boyle recalls. She shut down the facility with the same care and concern she showed throughout her time as its leader — treating residents like family and ensuring each one was smoothly transported and transitioned to a new facility, says Jernigan.
“Janine closed The Washington Home with grace and integrity and singularity of purpose, always with the residents’ comfort and care in mind,” she says. “I’m proud to be in the same business with her.”
In her current role as vice president of regulatory affairs for LeadingAge, Finck-Boyle says her biggest asset is that she understands the ins and outs of running a long-term care facility and what’s it’s like to “fight fires all day when you’re just trying to get your budget done.”
Outside of work, she can often be caught watching Finn play baseball or Katie play soccer, or taking in a Washington Nationals baseball game. Or in many instance, she might be exploring art at one of the district’s many galleries or just reading a book at one of her favorite summertime spots — with her extended family at the Jersey Shore or with her husband’s family on Cape Cod.
“It’s so important for me to be around a body of water, just relaxing and reading a book,” she says.
A self-proclaimed “foodie,” Finck-Boyle is always up for trying new restaurants — of which there are plenty in DC. She loves sushi — “the rarer the better.”
Through it all, she always has an eye out for a potential run-in with Carter, a childhood icon she’s still trying to emulate.
“She lives right near here, in Maryland, you know,” she says with a hopeful rise to her voice.
Resume: 1993, earns B.S. in biology with a minor in healthcare administration, from Stonehill College; 1993, becomes an HCIS Consultant at Meditech; 1998, completes MBA in healthcare administration with a certificate in gerontology from Cleveland State University; earns nursing home administrator license; 1999, hired as Director of IT at Hadley Memorial Hospital and Skilled Nursing Facility in Washington, DC; 2000, named Administrator at Hadley; 2002, rises to CEO, Hadley Memorial Hospital and Skilled Nursing Facility; 2010, becomes Administrator/Executive Director of The Washington Home and Community Hospices in Washington, DC; 2017, named Director of Health Regulations and Policy at LeadingAge; 2018, promoted to Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at LeadingAge.
From the November 2019 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
