By Jeffery Kurz
Record-Journal staff

MERIDEN – The tiara is not an official part of Employee of the Year recognition at MidState Medical Center, but Nancy Uryase was happy to wear it anyway Monday evening.
Uryase, a registered nurse with a 40-year career in the birthing center at Meriden’s hospital, received the tiara from Doris Bateman, last year’s winner, who was given the crown by the 2006 Employee of the Year, Dorothy Mut.
Mut had been presented with the tiara at a celebration the year she won, and decided passing it along “would be a great gesture.” It’s now a tradition, said Mut, who had also picked up a man’s crown this year just in case.
This is the 14th year MidState has awarded honors for employee and team of the year. Candidates are nominated by their peers, and judging is by an independent panel.
About 100 employees attended Monday night’s ceremony in the Horwitz Conference Center, followed by a reception in the hospital cafeteria.
The 2008 team winner, selected from six nominees, was central supply, which, as the department name implies, is in charge of making sure the right surgical tools go to the right place at the right time.
“We don’t have a lot of patient contact because we’re behind the scenes,” said Marcia Zello. Central supply, she said “is always in the basement because we’re the foundation.”
Every year, central supply processes 30,000 kits, each of which can include up to 100 instruments, noted George Kyriacou, Mid State’s chief operating officer.
Uryase, who was selected among 20 nominees, is noted for treating “patients as though they were her own family members,” said Lucille Janatka, MidState’s chief executive. Janatka said it was also clear that Uryase is “proud to be a nurse.” A member of the 1956 class of Meriden High School, Uryase graduated from the Meriden Hospital School of Nursing in 1959. She took a hiatus when she had her three children, and has steadily worked for Meriden’s hospital since 1967.
“I’ve just always loved my job,” said Uryase, who with husband Bernard Uryase has six grandchildren. “He’s going to be shocked when I tell him this,” she said.
Dealing with people “and seeing babies born – it’s just so gratifying,” Uryase said. “I just found that place of nursing to be a suit for me, for sure.”
Uryase is also admired as an instructor. She teaches an expectant parent class and is also a leader among her coworkers.
“She took me under her wing,” said Pamela Van Hennik, a nurse manager. “She does not sit down.”
Through all her years of working at the various incarnations of Meriden’s hospital, from Meriden Hospital to Meriden- Wallingford Hospital, Veterans Memorial Medical Center and now Mid State, Uryase said the Family Birthing Center at the Lewis Avenue hospital is “the best place to have a delivery, to facilitate nursing care. Now, the technology is the best.”
Along with the tiara, the benefits of winning include a prime parking spot. During the past year, that spot moved around a little, to accommodate hospital reorganization, something the 2007 Employee of the Year couldn’t resist mentioning at the start of the ceremony.
“I’ve had some good times,” said Bateman, “including chasing my parking space.”