LEONARDTOWN, MD (April 13, 2022) – On April 8, 2022 during National Public Health Week the St. Mary’s County Health Department (SMCHD) recognized outstanding team members who have excelled in their efforts to provide public health services to the community.
“Public health serves a critical role in our everyday lives, even if much of what we do is working in the background to keep our community population healthy,” stated Dr. Meena Brewster, St. Mary’s County Health Officer. “National Public Health Week is an opportunity for us to recognize all those public health professionals who work tirelessly to protect health and promote the well-being of entire communities. I am especially grateful for the perseverance, compassion, and leadership demonstrated by our SMCHD team members as they have navigated the historic pandemic challenge of the past two years while maintaining other vital public health services for our county. Congratulations to this year’s award recipients – their dedicated public service inspires all of us.”
The awards ceremony began with a beautiful song of gratitude and hope offered by singer Harold Williams of PSL Consulting, as well as an energizing, motivational performance by the Spring Ridge Middle School Rhythm Club.
Awards were presented to SMCHD team members in several different categories, including:
Excellence in Public Health Award, the topmost SMCHD honor. This year’s recipient has demonstrated many years of outstanding service to agency and community, strong leadership in developing new public health initiatives, and took on additional leadership responsibilities to support the local COVID-19 response:
- Angela Cochran
Certificates of Meritorious Public Health Service provided to multiple SMCHD team members who have supported different aspects of the SMCHD COVID-19 pandemic response.
Public Health Leadership Award for those providing leadership on the COVID-19 incident command team this past year:
- Ruby Abaka-Yankson
- Japan Bhalja
- Bernadette Day
- Anne Harvey-Diggs
- Heather Moritz
- Alicia Nelson
- Jeanna Plants
- Kim Robertson
- Katherine Shirey
Public Health Leadership Award for exceptional leadership in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic through a variety of surges, coordination of vaccine and testing services, and other COVID-19 operations and planning responsibilities:
- Quinn Alsheimer
Public Health Leadership Award for outstanding leadership in developing new programs to advance maternal child health outcomes:
- Ashley Milcetic
COVID Courage Award for occupational health support to prevent the spread of COVID-19 across SMCHD’s frontline workforce; and for team members who have been heavily involved in outreach and getting COVID-19 information and resources out to our community:
- Suha Ansari
- Johnn Cave
- Angela Horn
- Jaclyn Johnson
- Marcus Johnson
- David Jones
- Laila Moasser
- Maria Reynolds
- Kelly Richards
- Kim Robertson
- Jacqueline Wells
Outstanding Service Award for the SMCHD Infectious Disease Control team for their resilience in managing hundreds of infectious disease outbreaks during the past year:
- Jayme Alsheimer
- Stephanie Angle
- Mary Day
- Lisa Early
- Natalie Evans
- Beverly Guy
- Edwin Howell
- Melinda Marchlewicz
- Vickie May
- Breanna Peters
- Rebecca Smith
- Abigail Theofollis
- Dominique Tilley
- Katie Tippett
Outstanding Performance Award for the SMCHDInformation Technology team for their coordination and leadership in handling local impacts from the state’s cybersecurity event:
- Vonta Day
- Cindi Murphy
- Kim Wildoner
Innovation Award for the SMCHD Violence, Injury and Trauma (VIT) team for launching new efforts to advance youth mentoring, data access, an improved understanding of the impact of adverse childhood experiences and a variety of other VIT prevention/mitigation measures:
- Stephanie Freeman
- Shannon Heaney
- Jennifer Martinez
- Ashley Milcetic
- Nanthida Nanthavong
SMCHD congratulates this year’s award recipients and thanks all team members for their dedicated service to St. Mary’s County.
To view photos from this event, visit flickr.com/photos/smchd.
For more information about services and programs offered at SMCHD, please visit smchd.org.
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