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(Honesdale, June 30, 2008)...When asked what it was like to be the longest-serving employee honored at Wayne Memorial Hospital’s annual Employee Service Awards dinner on June 12th, Cinda Tietjen, RN didn’t hesitate. “It feels good,” she said.

      The Employee Service Awards at Lukans Farm Resort in Hawley paid tribute to employees for continuous service at five-year intervals. With 35 years at Wayne Memorial Hospital (WMH), Tietjen topped the list of 72 employees. All tolled, the employees had put in 1,065 years of work at Wayne Memorial.

      “So many things have changed, but a lot for the positive,” said Tietjen, who grew up in Honesdale not far from the hospital. “We used to have ashtrays at all the nursing stations.”  Today, Wayne Memorial Hospital (WMH) is a tobacco free campus inside and out.   

       Other changes have included numerous building expansions and technology upgrades.

      “We have so many more things to key into computers today,” said Paula Bishop, Class of ’92-’93. Bishop works in the Business Office.

      What’s brought these people into work every day for so long, however, has clearly been the company they keep, mostly each other.

      “There’s a lot of comradery,” explained Lisa Kinzinger, RN a 25-year employee. “I’ve really enjoyed the people I’ve come to know here—coworkers, patients, even my bosses.”