Three employees celebrate four decades at Backus
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Backus Hospital recently held its annual Employee Recognition Dinner, honoring employees who have reached longevity milestones -- including three who have been at Backus for four decades.
Nity Oris
Nity Oris, RN, grew up in the Philippines and came to America in 1967 as an exchange student. She worked in Philadelphia and northern New Jersey before getting married in 1969 and moving to eastern Connecticut where her new husband was stationed in the Navy. She worked as a nurse manager in the former obstetrics unit, but when the birthing center opened, she took a nightside supervisor's position in Patient Care Services and has been doing it for 18 years. She said small-town Backus was a bit of a culture shock after working in big city institutions in Philly and the New York City suburbs. But her husband was never transferred and she grew to enjoy the pace and feel of a community hospital. "It feels like a family," she said, "It's a place where you can talk to the director or president whenever you want. Not everyplace can say that." Nity stays busy with projects to help underprivileged families in the Philippines. She has a home there and will probably spend more time there when her days at Backus are through. It is because of this work that she is being considered for the Presidential Award in the Philippines — a biennial honor given to individuals working overseas who make an exceptional contribution to improving the quality of life in their homeland.
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Kathryn Hlavac
Kathryn Hlavac, of Patient Accounts, has spent the majority of her life at Backus, considering it started when she was born here. She graduated from Norwich Free Academy and tried her hand at nursing since being a secretary or teacher didn't really appeal to her at the time, but she got her start at Backus as a nurse's aide. After a brief break, she was hired in "the admitting office" as she puts it, where there were two registrars, one operator and everyone covered everyone else when someone was out to lunch or out sick. She was there for 27 years before moving to Patient Accounts. She has been there ever since and is now a fixture at the BOCC. Over the years, she has been amazed at the how the hospital has shifted from an inpatient focus to an outpatient focus. She remembers breaking her leg as a kid and stayed at Backus for 10 days. Now they have you in and out of surgery and out the door in a matter of hours. She has no immediate plans to move on because she says most of the time she spends more time here than she does with her family, and Backus has become part of her family. "It's work I enjoy," she said. "It's close to home. There are good people here. I just fit. I've always felt like I've belonged."
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Ginny J. Mabesoone
Ginny J. Mabesoone, RN, was born in New Jersey and came to Connecticut when she was 14. She graduated from Albany Medical Center in New York and came back to the area because she was promised dayside hours in pediatrics and a few weekends off. She started in March of 1970 and planned to stay for a year and return to Albany, but you can see how that worked out. She became part of the IV Therapy team early on in her Backus career and then in 1993 added Ambulatory Care to her docket. Then in 2002, she took over in oncology and has been the clinical director of A-2 since. She has marveled at the way the hospital's campus and reputation have both grown in the community with the services we provide and our focus on the patient. She attributes her longevity at Backus to the flexibility she has been allowed in pursuing any clinical avenues that have interested her. She says she's got a few more years left in her, but loves the area and her dogs, so she is in no rush to fly the Backus coop.