New Scotland resident named Albany Med Employee of the Year

— Photo courtesy of Albany Medical Center

Alowyn Sim, a resident of New Scotland, has been named Albany Medical Center’s 2017 employee of the year.

NEW SCOTLAND — Alowyn Sim is the supervisor of the receiving and distribution department at Albany Medical Center.

Sim, a New Scotland resident, had thought last month that he was sitting in normal quarterly-management meeting — he wasn’t.

It was then, in front of 200 other managers, James J. Barba, the president and chief executive officer of Albany Med, announced the 2017 Employee of the Year.

“I was looking around, wondering who it was,” Sim told The Enterprise. “It took a couple of seconds for reality to set in”

Of the 9,000 employees at Albany Med, it was Sim who was chosen.

One nominator wrote, “I came to this country 13 years ago and started working at Albany Med. My English was not very good and I struggled to get through the day. Right from the beginning, Al was there to help me with my day-to-day responsibilities. Al makes you feel like part of a work family.”

Twenty years earlier — April 13, 1998, to be exact — Sim began working on the AMC loading dock, hustling packages over to the university.

Sim had a good manager on the dock, “He was good at promoting from within,” Sim said, and so began his rise.

He now oversees 25 employees who are responsible for stocking the hospital floors with linens, gas, and supplies for procedures — and he’s also modest.

“Praising myself is not something I do,” Sim said when asked why he thought he was chosen employee of the year.

Tags:

More Community news

  • Coppola, who works as a customer service associate at the Guilderland Hannaford, was busy helping a shopper at 11 a.m. on April 17 when Michele Fleming’s voice came over the supermarket’s public-address system: “All associates, come to the bakery for a very special huddle,” she said.

  • DELMAR — The Mendelssohn Club of Albany will perform its traditional spring concert at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 16, in the New York State Education Building’s historic Chancellors Hall.

  • Lupine Fest will be celebrated for a month this year.

    Every day in May, the Pine Bush Preserve will offer activities and events celebrating the iconic flower that is essential to the life cycle of the endangered Karner blue butterfly.

The Altamont Enterprise is focused on hyper-local, high-quality journalism. We produce free election guides, curate readers' opinion pieces, and engage with important local issues. Subscriptions open full access to our work and make it possible.