Nurse practitioner Deb Maxwell was laid off in March when the coronavirus pandemic halted home health visits.
The Massillon resident, who has worked as a nurse for eight years including the last three years as a certified nurse practitioner, already had another job lined up to start in June, so she wasn’t too worried about the loss of income.
She worried about the patients, especially those in nursing homes, who needed her.
Because of her dedication to her patients, Maxwell has been named one of The Canton Repository’s six Unsung Heroes for 2020. (The Massillon Independent and Canton Repository are sister newspapers.)
Unsung hero: Dale Brownfield helps keep Canton skateboarding
CANTON Dale Brownfield grew up in Akron riding BMX bikes at Derby Downs and skateboarding.
But if he wanted a skateboard ramp, he had to build it. The now 50-year-old Canton resident raised his daughter as a skateboarder, driving out of state to find more than prefabricated, metal ramps.
As president of the Canton Skateboard Association (CSA) the past four years, he s invested significant time and money into the 9th Street DIY skate park at 707 Schroyer Ave. SW in Canton. Just this year, the CSA invested about $6,000 in the park to repair surface cracks and build concrete ramps.
Unsung Hero: Massillon woman goes above, beyond for others
The Independent
MASSILLON On any given day, Sue Ambrosic can be found baking cookies for friends, shuttling someone to a doctor s appointment or picking up prescriptions and groceries for a homebound member of her church.
She doesn t consider herself a hero. She s just woman who has been taught by example to help her neighbors. I ve volunteered for most of my life because that is what my mom did, she said. She was active in the church and volunteered. I learned by example.
Ambrosic, 70, is being recognized as one of The Canton Repository s Unsung Heroes for 2020. The Repository and Massillon Independent are both owned by Gannett.
Sheila Brown was born to be a social worker, but she didn t always know it.
She s the executive director of CommQuest Deliverance House, a residential treatment facility in Canton for women who struggle with substance abuse disorders and (mild to moderate) mental illness. I came here in 2012 as a counselor for alcohol and drugs, she said. The following year, I became the interim director. . What we do here is inpatient treatment. Our attempt is to educate the ladies about the disease of addiction. We know it s just symptomatic of what s going on.
Brown became executive director in 2014. Prior to CommQuest, she worked at Care House, a transition-house program in Akron.
CANTON Bobbi McKnight packed a grocery bag with pajamas, a clean pair of scrubs and a toothbrush.
The House of Loreto nurse was planning to stay at the facility overnight to help out as COVID-19 cases surged throughout Stark County and across the state and country.
Months had passed with no infections at the private, faith-based nursing home. But the lethal virus finally had infiltrated its walls on Harvard Avenue NW.
That was more than five weeks ago, and since then McKnight has been living at the House of Loreto to help out in case of emergencies, to fill vacant work shifts and simply to be there.