Janice Mitchell Vassar is single handedly helping Bayshore Community Hospital expand its cardiovascular services and vision center with a $5 million donation to the Holmdel hospital.

The donation, the largest single gift Bayshore has received in its history and the second $5 million donation this year, according to a news release.

According to the release, Vassar said her intention with the large donation is to “make my hospital the best hospital it can be.”

Mitchell's father and newspaper editor John William Boyd Mitchell battled with glaucoma. Vassar's husband, Hervey Provost Vassar and his family founded Vassar College and Vassar Brothers Hospital. 

“Janice Mitchell Vassar is an extraordinary woman,” said John Lloyd, president and CEO of Meridian Health. “She has honored her family’s legacy of philanthropy and public service through so many kind deeds and good works of her own. Her personal legacy will be strongly tied to the phenomenal changes and bright future at Bayshore Community Hospital.”

Vassar has been dedicated to the vision impaired, and a portion of the money will be dedicated to an outreach coordinator, free screenings, educational programs, access to community resources and new technology.

Vassar and her husband created the Vassar Eye Center at Bayshore in 1995.

The hospital also plans to use the donation to expand cardiovascular services through the construction of two new state-of-the-art heart and vascular labs. 

"As part of the Meridian Cardiovascular Network and through its strong relationship with Jersey Shore University Medical Center, a recognized leader in open heart surgery in New Jersey, cardiovascular services have become a signature service at Bayshore," the release said.

Construction will begin this year on two new heart and vascular labs. A Primary Angioplasty program will also begin this year.

“This gift touches so many things that are dear to my heart,” Vassar said. “Through my gift to Meridian Health I am able to create an ongoing resource for the vision impaired and, in memory of beloved brother Ashby, I am able to be a part of Bayshore’s exciting future and help my hospital provide the best cardiac services to our community.”