A Vicksburg social worker has been named a Caregiver of the Year by the Mississippi Health Care Association.

Cindy McKay, a social worker at Heritage House Retirement Center, was recognized Wednesday at the MHCA annual awards banquet in Jackson for “going above and beyond the call of duty” in her work with the elderly, banquet coordinator Melzana Fuller said.

“I just fell in love with elderly people,” said McKay of the award, a first for her and for Heritage House in recent history.

McKay is one of 18 people from six districts across the state to receive the award, given for the third year.

She placed first in her district, and the overall Caregiver of the Year award went to Vernita Glenn of Walter B. Crook Nursing Center in Ruleville.

In addition to the 18 Caregivers of the Year, five Volunteers of the Year were also recognized.

Candidates, ranging from long-term care volunteers and assisted living caregivers to social workers and certified nurses, were nominated by residents and family members of MHCA facilities across the state.

The resident council of Heritage House, comprised of about 15 people, nominated McKay.

“Mrs. McKay happens to be one of those people who fill in and make a difference,” said Doris Driscoll, a Heritage House resident and member of the council. “She makes those of us who live here feel like it’s our own home. She’s very attentive and in tune to some of the problems the elderly face.”

Driscoll, who has known McKay since moving to the retirement center in 2001, said McKay goes “above and beyond the call of duty.”

“On her own time, she throws us parties and dinners in the evenings,” the 83-year-old said. “She sees everything in a positive way.”

McKay, 53, began her career in the nursing home field about 30 years ago in Washington state, but she was 12 years old when she decided she wanted a career working with the elderly.

“It started out with my great-grandmother,” Mary Jane Sprague, who lived to be 102, McKay said. “She had hair down to the floor that I loved to braid. She was my heart.”

When McKay moved to the Vicksburg area about 20 years ago, she worked with Heritage House.

After six years she moved to another nursing home for about two years, then returned to Heritage House.

McKay is the mother of two adult children, and her father lives in a retirement facility in Washington.