Pennyrile Area Development District Recognizes Pennyrile Region’s Health Departments

 In 1981, the Pennyrile Area Development District (PeADD) began presenting the W.W. Bill Bryan Award annually to an individual or group of individuals who made outstanding contributions and serves as great examples of regional cooperation and leadership in various ways. This award was named for W. W. Bill Bryan, who served as the first Chairman of the Pennyrile ADD Board and was a prominent figure in Hopkinsville. He was instrumental in the formation of the Pennyrile ADD back in the 1960’s.

One of the last individuals to receive this award was John Mahre for all the contributions he’s made and continues to make, not only for the Pennyrile region, but the entire state of Kentucky. Earlier this year, it was unanimously approved by the PeADD Executive Committee to rename the award in honor of John Mahre and award annually to individuals or groups who meet the definition.

This year, the Pennyrile Area Development District is recognizing the Pennyrile region’s nine Health Departments with the 2021 John C. Mahre Regionalism Award.

Despite intense media coverage of the pandemic, there has been limited public recognition of the role of our local health departments in preparing for and responding to crises such as COVID-19. There are nine health departments in our region protect and promote the health of cities and counties. When the rubber meets the road, the health departments are at the forefront of responding to outbreaks and critical for mitigating the spread of infection.

As current Chair of the Pennyrile Area Development District board of directors, Judge Executive Perry Newcom stated “I would like to say that our Regional Health Departments and the staff members of each are the epitome of this award.  Their tireless work during the COVID pandemic has provided timely and accurate advice to those they serve. They have helped ensure all our communities have the opportunity to be better prepared in our response to this pandemic, have ensured our communities have access to a variety of vaccines focused at allowing our bodies to fight off the severity of the disease, and have been instrumental in educating our region on the best preventative actions to take in the fight against the COVID pandemic. They accomplished this while continuing to provide their core services to our entire region which is why they are all deserving of this recognition”.

The nine Health Departments include: Christian County Health Department, Hopkins County Health Department, Muhlenberg County Health Department, Todd County Health Department, Caldwell County Health Department, Crittenden County Health Department, Livingston County Health Department, Lyon County Health Department, and Trigg County Health Department. The Caldwell, Crittenden, Livingston, Lyon, and Trigg County Health Departments are part of the Pennyrile District Health Department.  

More information on the Local Health Departments can be found at https://chfs.ky.gov/agencies/dph/dafm/Pages/lhd.aspx.