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St. Louis County proclaims Telecommunicators Week; public health staff and community leaders honored
Summary
The County Board read a proclamation honoring 9‑1‑1 telecommunicators and presented the 2025 St. Louis County Public Health Achievement Awards to four recipients for community health work across the Iron Range and Duluth.
The St. Louis County Board read a proclamation April 15 declaring the week in April 2025 as National Telecommunicators Week in St. Louis County and recognized dispatchers, technical staff and support personnel who staff the county’s 9‑1‑1 emergency communications centers.
Director Dewey Johnson of the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office 9‑1‑1 emergency communications division described dispatchers’ work at the podium, saying the group answered more than 194,000 calls in 2024 — roughly 400 calls per day — and praised their skills at navigating technology and supporting first responders. An undersheriff and other public‑safety leaders joined the recognition.
The board then presented the 2025 St. Louis County Public Health Achievement Awards, honoring public‑health professionals and community leaders for work on the Iron Range and in Duluth. Director Amy Westbrook of St. Louis County Public Health described recent department initiatives including aging services, a perinatal mental‑health campaign, a lead‑prevention campaign and school‑based outreach on youth cannabis prevention.
Award recipients and citations included:
- Dr. Jan Baldwin, Essentia Health Clinic (Hibbing): Recognized for leadership in perinatal substance‑use collaboration and community health advocacy.
- Nathan Kesti, outreach specialist, Downtown Duluth: Honored for street‑level outreach that linked dozens of people to housing, employment and treatment and for coordinating with local social‑service partners.
- Mel Alvar, Safe Harbor regional navigator, PAVSA: Recognized for 20 years of grassroots harm‑reduction work, regional coordination on sexual assault response and leadership on anti‑trafficking case consultation.
- Christina Troke, HealthEquity Northland (community co‑designer lead): Honored for leading a birth equity co‑design project that engaged people with lived experience to improve maternal outcomes and launched education and feedback tools for health systems.
Speakers including commissioners and department directors emphasized the emotional toll on public‑safety and public‑health workers and the need for continuing mental‑health support and resources. Commissioner remarks thanked award winners and highlighted the county’s broader public‑health partnerships and challenges, including federal funding pressures.
Ending: The board moved from the recognition portion into the business portion of the meeting, noting the awards and proclamation as part of a larger agenda on public safety and health.
