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Mercer Chosen As Good Samaritan

Dr. William Mercer of Wheeling will be recognized at Youth Services System’s Good Samaritan Dinner at Wheeling Park’s White Palace ballroom at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 19.

In choosing Mercer as the 2016 Good Samaritan, YSS board members noted that he wears many hats, sometimes in the course of one day. The Wheeling native serves as health officer for the Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department, and that role entails concern for public health issues such as substance abuse or tobacco use.

Mercer also is Ohio County Schools’ health adviser, and with that hat, he talks with young people about good health and good habits. He is the medical director for Peterson Rehabilitation Hospital and Geriatric Center, working with older people and those recovering from injury.

Twice a month, Mercer does walkabouts in the community, seeking, meeting and treating people who do not have regular housing. A team of volunteers, including other medical professionals, join him as he visits beneath area bridges and along the Ohio River.

One of his patients described Mercer as a “doctor’s doctor” and those he serves appreciates him. YSS board members said Mercer’s interests and passions can be seen in the work that he does — in public health, with students, with senior citizens and with the homeless.

In 2008, he was the family physician of the year in West Virginia. In 2012, he received the West Virginia Health Care Association’s Distinguished Service Award. He was selected for Legends of Warwood.

One of Mercer’s constants is health and health care; another is his love for the comic strip, “Peanuts.” People only have to enter his Wheeling Clinic office to know this. Through this passion, Mercer was able to travel to California and decorate a Snoopy statue that he brought back to Wheeling. Snoopy, as “Joe Too Cool to Smoke,” is seen throughout the community as part of his work.

For tickets to the Good Samaritan Dinner, call Youth Services System Inc. at 304-218-2847. The dinner benefits the agency’s work with youth and their families.

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