Gayle Brannon, new manager of Whitfield County Health Department

Gayle Brannon is the new manager of the Whitfield County Health Department, but she is no stranger to Whitfield County or to public health.

Brannon most recently served the North Georgia Health District in Dalton as assistant director of public health nursing and clinical services and as director of public health nursing and clinical services for the Northwest Georgia Health District based in Rome.

A 1981 graduate of Jacksonville State University, Brannon's nursing career began as team leader in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Hamilton Medical Center in Dalton. Subsequently, she was nurse manager of the Walker County Health Department, public health nurse specialist for the Walker County and Chattooga County Boards of Health, quality assurance supervisor for North Georgia Home Health Agency in Fort Oglethorpe and health occupations Instructor for the Walker County Board of Education.

In addition to her nursing degree, Brannon is a graduate of Emory University's Leadership Academy 2000 and of the 2001 Management Academy for Public Health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Brannon said she appreciates how well established the health department is in Whitfield County and plans to maintain the high level of services it offers, improve its visibility and raise community awareness of available public health programs that are unique to the department.

These unique programs are largely due to the health department's extraordinarily supportive community partners and include primary care for adults and children, prenatal care, dental care for adults and children and pharmaceutical assistance through the MedBank program.

"I am excited to be working with the excellent staff here and with our community partners as we highlight and expand services of the Whitfield County Health Department," Brannon said.

-Story by Jennifer King, public information officer and risk communicator, North Georgia Health District