(Photos by E.J. Greenblat) caption: TWO SISTERS, NEARLY A CENTURY OF EXPERIENCE: Hettie Dean, left, is celebrating 51 years of service at the University Medical Center at Princeton this month, a feat rivaled only by that of her little sister, Daisy Hubbard, right, who has been working at the hospital for 46 years. Both credit patience, respect, and humility for their longevity.

A Hospital Employee for Half a Century, Hettie Dean Keeps Job Fresh Every Day

Matthew Hersh

Imagine the perfect job. Okay, now imagine being there for 51 years. Still sound perfect?

Few commitments last as long as the one Hettie Dean keeps with her job at the University Medical Center at Princeton, and there's a reason for that: few people have the dedication to their jobs that she does, nor can most sum it up:

"I like people and I like working here and I'm a person that most people can get along with." A certified nursing assistant at UMCP's Post Anesthesia Care Unit, Ms. Dean, 69, said that it is no secret how she has achieved her tenure at the hospital: her love for people and particularly helping people has paved the path of her career since July 1954. "It's not just about the money, because if it were, I wouldn't have been here that long," she said. "I've seen a lot of changes in the hospital." Of course Ms Dean has not held the same post throughout her 51-year career. After working in Center Supply for 10 years, she moved to the recovery room where her work with patients so impressed her supervisors that they decided that that was where she belonged. As a young woman far from her native North Carolina, Ms. Dean's wish to help people had more to do with necessity than personal desire. Human contact was just what the John-Witherspoon Neighborhood resident needed.

"It was my first time away from home and it was hard to get used to," she said, adding that she had actually first applied to then-Bell Telephone on Nassau Street. Fortunately for the hospital, Bell never hired her, but the Princeton Medical Center did.

"Maybe [Bell] was never meant for me," she said, smiling. At Bell, Ms. Dean would have been dealing with people verbally rather than with the hands-on method that defines her role at the hospital.

"Hettie is just that huge link in our department ‹ she could be the manager," said Eileen Devlin, a registered nurse in Ms. Dean's unit. "She could be a nurse without formal training ‹ I've called on her to be with a patient when I need to be with another patient, and I just know she's there and knows what to do." Nurse Devlin, however, said Ms. Dean's special talent lies in dealing with children. "She's got that soothing voice, and the children just get quiet."

Ms. Dean's penchant for helping people also describes her role at the First Baptist Church at Paul Robeson Place and John Street: "If I'm not here, I'm working at church. That's what keeps me going. "People ask me ŒHow are you always so happy?' and I can just thank God that if I help anybody, it makes me feel good." Regardless of her love for her work, the UMCP veteran has also seen enough change at the hospital to keep her job fresh. "It's much different now than when I first started ‹ you used to have to do everything yourself," she said, adding that things like needles and gloves had to be sterilized and then reused whereas everything is disposable in today's modern medical environment. But she and her colleagues at the time "didn't have a lot of infections or anything, so I guess we did a good job.

"I tell people now 'don't complain,' because when I started, there were so many things to do." Ms. Dean said that even though the hospital has grown, the intimacy has not been lost. In fact, she said, the improvement of the facility and overall medical advances has led to a climate where her output is actually more rewarding. She recalled a surgeon who "did everything, from the ear to the toe." But that, too, has changed.

"They're doing different types of surgery and doing more of it; today you have a doctor for everything, and this is a teaching hospital, which is good."

She acknowledged that this growth has led to the UMCP's decision to move ‹ a prospect she views as something of a positive chapter in the hospital's history. "A lot of patients worry 'Why are you moving? I love this hospital,' but I think the intimacy can be maintained ‹ you have to think of the patients who you're trying to make happy."

While she has no immediate plans to retire, Ms. Dean conceded that she "probably" will not be there to see the hospital's move.

Subhead: Daisy Hubbard

Ms. Dean's little sister, on the other hand, might be there. Five years her sister's junior, Daisy Hubbard is celebrating her 46th year working at UMCP. While Ms. Dean is the longest tenured employee in UMCP history, Ms. Hubbard is next in line. Both sisters are humble beyond words, and the younger Ms. Hubbard was determined to make sure her sister stayed in the spotlight.

A senior unit secretary in the hospital, she said that working in the same building as her sister was just a matter of fate.

Ms. Hubbard came to Princeton from North Carolina when she was 17 to baby-sit for her aunt for the summer. "I stayed here and went to Rider," she said, adding that she had always intended to go back home during those first few years in the northeast, "but the money ran out." Ms. Hubbard said she was "amazed" that she and her sister had ostensibly grown up and spent their adult lives at the hospital. Although she lives in Hopewell with her husband, she and her sister make a point to spend time together at least a few times a week and spend "at least 15 to 20 minutes" talking every morning. "She's like a mother to me, you couldn't find a nicer person."

Despite the accolades she's received for her accomplishments, Ms. Dean said to perform well at her job, the last person she needs to think of is herself.

"It's not all about you, it's about what you're doing and trying to help someone, and you're going to see all different types of people, and you just have to learn to work with all of them." For Ms. Dean, that outlook has been 51 years in the making.