For more than 20 years, communities around the country have celebrated National Public Health Week (NPHW), an initiative of the American Public Health Association, each April to highlight the good work of public health professionals. This year, NPHW will be recognized April 2-8, 2018.
Sedgwick County Division of Health (SCDOH) uses this time to recognize community member who has demonstrated extraordinary commitment and contributions to public health through the Dr. Doren Fredrickson Lifetime Dedication to Public Health Award. Dr. Fredrickson served as the SCDOH’s health officer from 2002 to 2008. He was a dedicated, caring, and enthusiastic health advocate who devoted his entire career to improving public health. This year’s award recipient is Ms. Peggy Johnson; she will be recognized at the Board of Sedgwick County Commissioner’s Meeting on April 4, 2018.
Peggy Johnson is the Executive Director and COO of the Wichita Medical Research & Education Foundation and has, with full support of the Board of Directors, taken the organization into the arena of Public Health. Under her direction the Foundation has increased its funding for public health educational events over 600%. Additionally, Peggy began the Foundation’s work in providing free Advance Directive documents to the general public to address health care issues for the elderly and terminally ill. She began the organization’s Annual Health Care Ethics Conference, which is now in its fifth year and brings together healthcare workers, social workers, chaplains, adult home healthcare administrators and others to learn about ethical issues in the public and private healthcare arena.
Peggy helped bring the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure event to Wichita. She then moved on to form the Komen Kansas Affiliate and became the Chairwoman of the National Susan G. Komen Board of Directors. She sits on numerous cancer committees, both nationally and locally. She is a Komen Advocate in Science and helps award national breast cancer research grants. Because of Peggy’s leadership, 45,000+ women and men in Kansas have received no cost mammograms.
“Peggy has testified before Congress, lobbied for more breast cancer research funding, attended countless meetings, given thousands of speeches, done hundreds of television interviews, pleaded personally with vice-presidents, queens of foreign nations, ambassadors, senators and congressional representatives for more cancer funding ,” said Adrienne Byrne, Sedgwick County Division of Health Director. “She is a true public health advocate and most deserving of this award.”