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Garrett County Health Department one of seven to receive national accreditation

OAKLAND — The Garrett County Health Department recently became one of seven county health departments in Maryland to receive national accreditation from the Public Health Accreditation Board.

“I’d have to say, honestly, Garrett County is not a good health department — Garrett County is a great health department,” Howard Haft, deputy secretary of public health at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said during an accreditation celebration Wednesday. “Incredible leadership, incredible staff that are very dedicated with many, many years of dedicated service.”

The health department received accreditation in November and all the work was done by staff, who worked in each domain, according to Rodney Glotfelty, the health department’s health officer.

“Accreditation is a big deal — only 12 percent of local health departments in the United States have been accredited so far,” Glotfelty said. “Of that 12 percent, only 7 percent serve populations under 50,000.”

Once documentation was submitted to the accreditation board, a site review team visited the health department to discuss the various domains, said Glotfelty.

“When you step back and look at how many health departments in the nation reached this level and most of them being much bigger, the standards don’t change regardless of the size,” said Paul Edwards, chairman of the Garrett County Board of Commissioners. “For us to reach that with the size and scope of the staff here, when others that are much bigger have yet to do that, I think it speaks volumes of the commitment of the staff and Rodney’s leadership.”

The health department earned accreditation after a two-year, multi-faceted peer review assessment process to ensure it meets or exceeds a set of quality standards and measures for public health.

“It’s not just the documentation. It’s really the fact that people put their heart and soul into it and they change how they do things to make them just the absolute best practices in the nation,” Haft said. “You are really the unsung heroes in health care.”

The national accreditation program works to improve and protect the health of the public by advancing the quality and performance of the nation’s health departments. The program, which is jointly supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, sets standards against which the nation’s more than 3,000 governmental public health departments can continuously improve the quality of their services and performance.

“I just wish that everybody in the state legislature, federal legislature, everybody in the community really understood how important the work you do every day is — I understand it,” Haft said.

“If you think about it, you have hit the apex of your industry and that’s something worth celebrating,” said Edwards.

 

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Jay Ferguson

Who I Am My name is Jay Ferguson, and I am a lifelong resident of the Deep Creek Lake area. I am also co-owner of the real estate side of Taylor Made. I have been in the real estate business for 21+ years now and I LOVE what I do! I have to say, my career really took off when I co-founded the real estate side of Taylor Made in 2014. Its been an amazing experience, building a real estate company from the ground up and achieving so much so quickly! In August 2016, we purchased Long & Foster Real Estate Deep Creek, where I had started my career in 2000. In 2018, we on-boarded virtually every agent from Coldwell Banker Deep Creek Realty as they closed up shop and the real estate family grew even more! We now have over 40 sales agents and have expanded to West Virginia and Pennsylvania, as well. Taylor Made is the #1 vacation rental company at Deep Creek with over 475 vacation rental homes, and over one hundred thousand yearly visitors. Its amazing what we have accomplished using the principles of honesty, teamwork and customer service! Personally, my wife Jessica and I enjoy traveling and especially spending time in the outdoors, hiking and exploring the many diverse areas that Garrett County is naturally blessed with. We have raised two wonderful children here, Kayleah (22) and Noah (13). In the summer, we love spending time on the water with friends & family and enjoying the lake life! We are both active in our church, our community & local school activities, and we fill our schedule with plenty of volunteer efforts. I currently serve on the board of directors for Habitat for Humanity. I am proud to say that I was named Deep Creek Time’s Favorite ‘Community Champion’ in 2019. I was also named Garrett County Realtor of the Year in 2018-19, as well. I really enjoy promoting my hometown. I am very proud of the resort area that has developed over my lifetime and look forward to growing the area even more! Deep Creek Lake has been described as ‘The Lake Tahoe of the east', and I think that speaks volumes about the potential to own property here! Deep Creek Lake isn't really a town or city by itself; it's comprised of three towns: Oakland, Swanton & McHenry, Maryland. I am very passionate about my hometown and am impressed with how many people know about it as we travel around the country. Deep Creek Lake is an amazing place to visit and even better place to live! During the pandemic in 2020, our market exploded and more and more people left their primary residence in the city to live here permanently. With distance learning in schools and tele-commuting becoming the ‘norm’, many more people were drawn to the area to ‘live where they love to play’. Why You Want Me Working for You: In addition to being an owner, I am consistently one of the top-producing agents in the entire area and the Associate Broker of record for Taylor-Made Deep Creek Vacations & Sales. I have 21+ years of experience and I am a problem solver. There aren’t many situations that I have not encountered and I have a strategy for almost every scenario that you may encounter. I have extensively trained in all areas of real estate & emerging technologies, and also have trained as an appraiser, as well as served as a full-time Broker. I have a strong knowledge of the industry, as well as many trusted local contacts & affiliations that allow me to perform at a very high level and deliver results. I have a great deal of respect for my peers in this industry and have strong working relationships that I would love to put to work for you. Call me to discuss your situation - I know I can be of great service to you & others you care about! Honesty. Integrity. Results.