Good Shepherd Honors Mercer For Service
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WHEELING -- Good Shepherd Nursing Home staff and residents today honored Dr. William Mercer "for the caring and selfless way he practices medicine."
Staff said Mercer's medical skills andkindness "have been a blessing to Good Shepherd residents."
The reception was also organized to celebrate the national honor that Mercer recently received for groundbreaking programs he launched while serving as the Wheeling Ohio County Public Health Officer. The American Public Health Association (APHA) bestowed the Milton and Ruth Roemer Prize on Dr. Mercer for Creative Public Health Work.
Welty Corporation CEO Donald R. Kirsch said he was not surprised to learn of the doctor's prestigious national honor. "Dr. Mercer has taken wonderful care of Good Shepherd residents for decades. He is a talented and genuinely caring physician. We congratulate him on this well-deserved honor," Kirsch said.
Mercer's award recognized the "Joe To Cool To Smoke" campaign, which he created to teach children about the dangers of smoking. Mercer was a cartoonist in his youth whose favorite comic strip was Charles Schulz's "Peanuts," and he envisioned using the Peanuts character Snoopy to get his anti-smoking message to children.
He reached out to Schulz's son Craig for permission to use Snoopy in the county's anti-smoking campaign. While the organization rarely approves use of the Peanuts characters, Schulz readily gave his blessing, and the "Joe Too Cool to Smoke," campaign was born.
The APHA award also recognized Mercer's work with Project HOPE, which stands for Homeless Outreach Partnership Effort. Project HOPE was a street medicine program started by Mercer in 2006. It is affiliated with the Wheeling-Ohio County Public Health Department in 2015, and then became Project HOPE.