Awards and Recognition

The first full year of the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) as its own, standalone agency was filled with hard-earned awards and recognition. PHWEEK provides a look back at the many of the honors DPH received this year.

• The Ready Georgia mobile application created by the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency were awarded Silver in the 2012 Winter/Spring Web Health Awards Mobile Application: Location-Based Resource category.
• Nurses across the state were honored with the Public Health Nursing Practice Excellence Award
• Injury prevention employees were recognized with Buckle Up, America! Awards. The Buckle Up, America! Awards recognize individuals, agencies, community and civic groups who work to reduce injuries and prevent fatalities in Georgia through involvement with traffic safety, seat belt and child safety seat awareness initiatives.
• Shaun Brand, environmental health manager for both the Chattooga and Dade county health departments in northwest Georgia, was honored at the 2012 Georgia Public Health Association annual meeting. Brand received the association’s Environmentalist of the Year award in recognition of his work developing innovative training programs and materials to help the Georgia Department of Public Health’s environmental health office and environmental health staff in the state’s county health departments transition from an old-fashioned, tedious paper-based reporting system to a new, real-time digital system designed to improve service and efficiency.
• USDA awarded DPH with an award for Greatest Achievements in Breastfeeding Rates for a 7.5 percent increase in breastfeeding in women.
• Gwendylon Smith, program consultant in the Georgia lead hazard control program at the Georgia Department of Public Health, was recently awarded the Agnes Scott College Kilimanjaro Scholarship. The Kilimanjaro Award was established by Penny Campbell, a Charles A. Dana Professor Emerita of History at Agnes Scott College, in memory of Marie Ewers and Welford Shepard Campbell and in honor of Seaborn Phillips Jones. It is awarded to a student or recent alumna and its intended to encourage travel abroad to observe the customs, mores, folkways and religions of the people, or to learn the language or improve fluency in the language of the country. The study/travel must be focused on Africa, the Middle East or Asia.
• Gordon Freymann, M.P.H., director of the office of health indicators for planning at the Department of Public Health, was awarded the Sellers-McCroan Award at the Georgia Public Health Association Awards Luncheon.
• Sandra Elizabeth Ford, M.D., district health director of the DeKalb County Board of Health, Received a Legendary Humanitarian of the Year Award from The Dominique Wilkins Foundation
• SAFE KIDS USA awarded ‘Outstanding Local Coordinator’ to Christy Hubbard of Columbus.
• The Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services recognized those who had generously contributed to their success over the past 20 years. Lloyd Hofer, M.D., district health director, and Connie Russell, district program director, for the Gwinnett, Newton, and Rockdale County Health Departments (GNRHD) were honored with a Community Rock Star award.
• North Central Health District employees, Christine Buffington and Michael Slaton were honored for their involvement with the Woolfolk Community Engagement Team. Buffington and. Slaton were the public health representatives on a team made up of citizens, business owners and other stakeholders in the Woolfolk community. This team won the 2011 Notable Achievement Award for Outstanding Environmental Justice from the Environmental Protection Agency.
• The Georgia Department of Public Health created an award to recognize and celebrate those providers in Georgia who are already providing exceptional service to children with special health care needs. R. Dwain Blackston, M.D., became the first recipient of the Exceptional Service to Children with Special Health Care Needs award.
• Gwinnett County Public Health and Four Corners Primary Care Center, Inc. partnered with the Hayslett Group and were the recipients of this year’s Silver International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Award for their work in recruiting full-time physicians in Georgia.
• Cobb County received a 2011 FEMA Individual and Community Preparedness Awards for its Safety Village. The awards recognize the innovative practices and achievements of organizations and individuals that work to make our communities safer, stronger, and better prepared to manage any emergency situation.
• Georgia’s HIV “Taking Control” initiative was presented at the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors ( NASTAD) Meeting in DC.
• LaTonya Thomas, MBA-HCH, was honored with a Clay Coleman Excellence in Customer Service Award. Recognized by her peers for making a difference, the award represents the highest standard in ensuring health care providers are well prepared to protect the citizens of Georgia against vaccine-preventable diseases.