STAR, Inc. Nurse, Cindy Newman, received the prestigious Nurse of the Year award during the Ohio Provider Resource Association (OPRA) conference in Columbus on Oct. 26, 2023.
“Every year they put on their annual conference, and they invite their members to submit for awards and I submitted for Cindy as Nurse of the Year. She has 34 years serving the DD population in Scioto County and she’s set to retire in 2024. I thought this was an apt time to recognize her many years of excellent service,” said STAR, Inc. Director of Operations Kelly Hunter.
Hunter said Newman has been an excellent nurse who has always promoted STAR, Inc.’s commitment to health and safety.
“In the eight or nine state reviews that we’ve had since I’ve been with the DD, which is 23 years, we’ve never gotten a citation regarding health and safety. In all that time, Cindy has made sure the citizens of Scioto County's health and safety has been a priority,” he said.
Newman was selected from a pool of 15 nominees as OPRA Nurse of the Year and attended the conference in Columbus joined by Scioto County Developmental Disabilities Provider Liaison Kristi Cyrus.
“Cindy works for STAR, Inc., one of the great provider agencies in our county serving people with developmental disabilities and we wanted to show our support for her achievement and recognition,” Cyrus said. “As I’ve worked with her through the years, she has been very helpful and she has always answered my questions. She’s just an amazing person and very deserving of this award.”
STAR, Inc. is a non-profit organization in Portsmouth, Ohio, dedicated to enriching the lives of adults with developmental disabilities by promoting independence, providing choices, giving support, empowering lives, and offering guidance. With programs that promote community outreach through volunteering as well as acquiring employment. All of their services and programs are tailored specifically to each member’s unique needs. For more information about STAR, Inc., visit online at https://sciotostar.org.
OPRA is a statewide association of service providers, to collaboratively build a statewide service system that meets the needs of its ultimate customers: Ohioans with developmental disabilities. Currently, OPRA’s Membership consists of 178 provider organizations, both for-profit and not-for-profit, providing services to more than 40,000 Ohioans with developmental disabilities. For more information about OPRA, visit online at www.opra.org.
For more information about the programs and services at Scioto County Developmental Disabilities, call 740-353-0636 or visit online at www.sciotocountydd.org, and like and follow them on Facebook and TikTok.