Mark Whittaker, Registered Sanitarian with the Doddridge County Health Department, was the recipient of the 2018 Steve Bayer Award given by the West Virginia Association of Sanitarians at the 94th Annual West Virginia Public Health Conference on Thursday September 20, 2018 held at Glade Springs Resort near Beckley, WV. The Award was presented to Mark by Michelle Cochran with the Office of Environmental Health Services.
The Award is named in honor of Steve Bayer, Sanitarian Supervisor at the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department who passed away unexpectedly in 2008 and is given to a Sanitarian who works in Environmental Health and whose actions goes above and beyond normal expectations to improve and promote the Environmental Health Profession in West Virginia. Steve Bayer had a passion and truly believed that Sanitarians could impact the health of the communities in West Virginia. He thought that by working together, we could achieve more, and he believed in giving credit to those who were striving to help others along our professional journey.
Mark retired from the Office of Environmental Health Services (OEHS) a number of years ago, but that didn’t stop him from his work in environmental health. He has continued to work tirelessly (even after retirement) to enforce environmental health laws across northern West Virginia. He has contracted his services to several northern Local Health Departments including Doddridge, Gilmer, Marion, Upshur, Lewis, Marion, Monongalia, Wetzel/Tyler, Preston and Taylor Counties although he began his profession in Raleigh County.
In addition to his direct work in these counties, Mark also served as the District Sanitarian in the Fairmont District for OEHS where he trained new Sanitarians and provided guidance to even the most seasoned Sanitarians in northern WV. Mark worked for a period of time as the Sewage Program manager helping local Sanitarian’s across the state with the more complex sewage disposal problems. He also worked in the OEHS Environmental Engineering Division with the transient/non-community water systems to ensure that facilities such as restaurants, parks, and campgrounds that utilize wells had safe water supplies for their visitors.
