Not far from where Greg Rozak sits to tell a tale of time – his 38-year career with DynaLIFE Medical Labs – many cardboard boxes are stacked high on the floor, in a hallway, and under stairs.
It’s a stack of all the things a 24/7 Medical testing lab needs to collect samples, run diagnostic tests, keep printers filled with paper and labels, keep offices stocked, and staff in an adequate supply of everything PPE…gloves, masks and face shields.
“Those are my problems, but it’s a good problem to have. If those spaces are empty, that’s when I start to sweat. If I don’t sleep at night, it’s because I don’t know if something we need is going to show up tomorrow,” Rozak says.
Greg leads DynaLIFE’s Facilities and Materials Management team, which is like the organization’s vital organ. If his departments aren’t pumping – buying, stocking and distributing materials to their many facilities across the province – critical lab work isn’t flowing.
Keeping things flowing is the theme of Rozak’s backstory with DynaLIFE.
Greg’s dad, Harry Pacholuk, worked as the exclusive courier for Dr. Hanson and Associates – one of the labs that amalgamated to form today’s DynaLIFE – ensuring samples and results were kept flowing to and from the lab in Edmonton and northern communities. Before that, he drove cab for City Cabs. By the time he retired, Pacholuk had spent 30 years with the company.
“As a kid, I can remember going on his runs with him at night,” he says, recalling many evenings in the front seat of his dad’s bronze-colored Plymouth station wagon. “I can remember coming to the lab and watching the Klondike Days parade move down Jasper Avenue from the second-floor windows of the chemistry lab.”
“My dad was very close with many of the pathologists of that time. If the pathologists needed a lift, they’d hop in his station wagon, and he’d drive them up to their northern sites on Fridays so they could complete their site visits through the weekend. That’s where my story begins with DynaLIFE – riding around with my dad. My family has been connected to this company in one form or another since then.”
For his part, Rozak came into the fray out of high school with an entry-level position in the transportation department. His wife Charlene was the receptionist for many years and now his niece Kallie also works for DynaLIFE.
“Through a lot of opportunities and confidence from people in that space, I am where I am today. “I was able to build my career through my time spent in many departments, Transportation, Purchasing and Finance. With the support of the leaders of the organization, I was allowed to grow my skills and abilities.”Today, Rozak is responsible for supplying the central lab and 34 satellite locations, ensuring each has what it needs to operate without interruption – from testing reagents and many different consumables to protective equipment. The COVID-19 pandemic exemplified his department’s ability to adapt in short order. “Being nimble and adapting on a daily basis is how I role”
“I’m trying to support the organization in the right way; how that looks changes every day. But that’s what keeps my day always exciting,” he says.
Asked if he could do anything, what would it be, Rozak pauses. “There has a been a very few times when I have considered exploring other opportunities…….but that passes, I am where I should be…….I am where I am happy and content, I am a contributor and I am valued”.
He talks about his work with DynaLIFE supporting Edmonton’s Terra Centre for young mothers, the Bissell Centre, the Edmonton Senior Centre, only to name a few of the charitable organizations DynaLIFE has supported.
“I suppose I’m a collector of time. It just always seems like we don’t have enough. Maybe I’m trying to buy it back,” he says quietly, mentioning his collection of 35 watches at home.
The times atop of that list would surely include those spent with his dad, riding around in the old station wagon.
“When dad retired, I think he was proud of what he’d made of himself,” Rozak shares. “Those were some good times for me……for us both. If he was still around, I think he’d be even prouder that one of his grandchildren would be working for the same organization he had worked for so many years ago.”
