About Our Agency

The local health department for St. Mary’s County, Maryland

The St. Mary’s County Health Department (SMCHD) is the local health department for St. Mary’s County, Maryland. Under the direction of the county’s Health Officer, Dr. Meenakshi G. Brewster, SMCHD is responsible for protecting and promoting the health of all St. Mary’s County residents. Within the scope of its resources, the health department delivers a variety of services to our community based on local health needs and federal, state, and county regulations. As the county’s leader in public health, the agency is committed to ensuring that community members have access to personal and environmental health services and information.

Vision

The St. Mary’s County Health Department promotes healthy choices, opportunities, and environments for all who live, work, and play in St. Mary’s County.

Mission

St. Mary’s County Health Department promotes a healthy community by:

Empowering and informing our residents about public health issues
Strengthening community partnerships
Implementing culturally sensitive programs to assure public health access
Maintaining a safe and healthy environment
Monitoring health status to identify community health needs
Informing the development of policies that address public health issues
Preparing for and responding to public health emergencies

Values

We take P.R.I.D.E. in our work as public health leaders:

Professionalism: We pledge competent, consistent, and evidence-informed public health services in a timely, effective manner.
Respect: We value all of our team members and residents while treating each other with respect and cultural sensitivity.
Integrity: We honor the public’s trust and pledge to maintain the highest standards of accountability and ethics.
Diversity: We value the diversity in our county and work towards achieving health equity.
Education & Health Communication: We provide effective, responsive, and timely communication and excel in our role as a trusted source of health information.

Total People in St. Mary's County

Essential Public Health Services

Public Health Professionals at SMCHD

0 +

Goal for a Healthy St. Mary's County

Seven Divisions of SMCHD

SMCHD operates through seven internal Divisions (Operations, Behavioral Health, Clinical Services, Environmental Health, Health Promotion & Community Services, Preparedness & Response, and Community Engagement & Policy), which work collaboratively to ensure Essential Public Health Services are provided for St. Mary’s County.

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Operations

Behavioral Health

Clinical Services

Community Engagement & Policy

Environmental Health

Preparedness & Response

Health Promotion & Community Services

Our Leadership

Meet the SMCHD Executive Team

Meenakshi G. Brewster, MD, MPH, FAAFP

St. Mary’s County Health Officer

Stephanie Harper, MD, MPP

Deputy Health Officer

Sonia Vance

Director of the Division of Operations

Tammy Loewe, LCSW-C

Director of the Behavioral Health Division

View Leadership Team

Public Health Accreditation

The St. Mary’s County Health Department (SMCHD) achieved national accreditation through the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB), jointly supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, on May 14, 2021. PHAB is a nonprofit organization that administers the national accreditation program for health departments. Accreditation aims to advance and transform public health practice by championing performance improvement, evidence-based action, and innovation.

Public health accreditation is a voluntary national program developed to measure health department performance against an established set of nationally recognized, practice-focused, and evidenced-based standards. The national accreditation program sets standards that the nation’s more than 3,000 governmental public health departments can work towards by continuously improving the quality of their services. To receive accreditation, a health department must undergo a rigorous, multi-faceted, peer-reviewed assessment to ensure it meets or exceeds a set of quality standards and measures. During this process, SMCHD documented conformance with all 100 performance measures across twelve domains of public health practice.