Cynthia McDaniel has seen some dark days: She was a nurse at St. Luke’s Hospital during the AIDS and TB epidemics in the 1980s and 1990s. Today, she tends to the city’s growing population of frail elderly at Jewish Home Lifecare in Manhattan.

When she talks about helping a bedridden man go outside to a park after being homebound for 20 years, the memory of his joy still brings a smile to her face. “We had to arrange everything the night before,” she recalled. “Helping him go outside meant so much to him.”

After more than 30 years, McDaniel’s enthusiasm for nursing is clearly undimmed.

“Nursing is my passion,” she said. “I feel I make a difference every day.”

McDaniel, the UFT chapter chair at Jewish Home Lifecare, was honored as the Health Care Professional of the Year by the Federation of Nurses/UFT at its Nurse Recognition Day Celebration at union headquarters on May 12.

More than 200 nurse members of the UFT from Lutheran Medical Center, the Visiting Nurse Service of New York and other health care agencies attended the dinner and awards ceremony to honor the “everyday heroes” in their profession. Retiring nurses were also recognized for their years of service.

“What you do each and every day is fantastic,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew said in his remarks to the gathering. “At a time of changing regulations and protocols, including the corporatization of health care, you have to make it work, and you do.”

Anne Goldman, the founder of the Federation of Nurses/UFT and the UFT vice president for non-DOE members, also praised members for their commitment to high-quality health care in the face of economic pressures. “We’re in this together,” she said. “The bottom line has nothing to do with patient care.”

Cora-Ann O’Regan and Kati Tannous, nurses at Lutheran Medical Center who participated in the UFT’s disaster relief mission in the Philippines, were also honored during the dinner.

“If the union had not sent us there, we would not have been able to do it,” O’Regan said. “I’m grateful to the UFT for giving us the opportunity.”