Categories
Article

Saint Raphael’s employee receives national Parkinson’s award

Oct. 22, 1998

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Donna Diaz says “serendipity” led her to becoming the first—and only—nurse coordinator for Saint Raphael’s Parkinson Information and Referral Center 10 years ago.

Her success, however, has been much more than a lucky fluke for the hundreds of Parkinson’s patients and their families whose lives she has touched in the past decade.

Diaz’s significant contributions to her work and her patients were recognized at last month’s American Parkinson Disease Association biennial meeting in Baltimore, Md., where she was only one of five coordinators in the nation to receive the APDA’s Salvatore Esposito, Sr. Coordinator’s Award. The Esposito Award is named for a founder and the second president of the APDA, a national, grassroots organization started in 1961.

The APDA Information and Referral Center at the Hospital of Saint Raphael is one of 50 centers funded by the APDA nationwide dedicated to the more than 1.5 million Americans suffering from Parkinson’s disease, their families and caregivers. Its free services include education, referral to community resources, counseling and advocacy, a support group, and a telephone information line.

Diaz, a registered nurse for 23 years, has a bachelor’s degree in Nursing from Fairfield University, Conn. and a master’s degree in Adult Education from Southern Connecticut State University. Her clinical experience includes work in critical care and medical-surgical nursing in staff and management roles.

She lectures both locally and nationally about Parkinson’s disease and helps coordinate many support groups, seminars and conferences. She’s a member of the national Nurse Advisory Council for SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals.

Diaz’s commitment to Parkinson’s disease goes far beyond her job at Saint Raphael’s. She’s also a board member of the Connecticut Chapter of the American Parkinson Disease Association and yearly co-chair of the APDA’s statewide walkathon.

She is active in the PTA in Hamden and chairperson of the Board of the Mount Carmel Nursery School, as well as a member of the M.O.M.s Clinic Advisory Committee for the Quinnipiac Valley Health District. She and her husband Steve live in Hamden with their three children, Stefanie, Crissy and Michael.

For more information about the Center or Parkinson’s disease call (203) 789-3936.