A Salisbury woman has been named the 2008 recipient of the Stacy H. Covil Environmental Health Specialist of the Year Award by the Environmental Health Section of the N.C. Public Health Association.
Judy Daye, regional environmental health specialist in the Division of Environmental Health’s Environmental Health Services Section, was honored for her dedication and contribution to the field of food protection and environmental health.
The Environmental Health Specialist of the Year Award honors individuals who are actively engaged in the field of environmental health and are members of the Environmental Health Section of the state Public Health Association. The recipient must have performed professional duties above and beyond day-to-day tasks.
Daye received a bachelor’s degree in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1982. That same year, she began her career in public health as a nutritionist for the Women, Infants and Children Program in Alamance County.
Six years later, she joined the Albemarle Regional Health Services as an environmental health specialist. In 1990, her career took her back to the Alamance County Health Department, where she worked for 10 years as an environmental health specialist, focusing on food, lodging and institutions.
In 2000, Daye joined the Division of Environmental Health and relocated to Salisbury as a regional environmental health specialist. In this capacity, she assists 12 counties with authorizations and rule interpretations as well as provides enforcement advice and training.
Terry Pierce, division director, said, “I am extremely pleased that Judy is being recognized with this very prestigious award. Ms. Daye is a dedicated environmental health professional who takes pride in her work, does it thoroughly and is committed to protecting the health of all North Carolinians.”
Larry Michael, head of the Food Protection Branch of the Environmental Health Services Section, said Daye had been instrumental in leading some of the division’s most critical committees on food protection in North Carolina. “She has served North Carolina in local, state and national capacities,” he said, “and she continues to be a well-respected leader in the field of food protection.”
This year, the Environmental Health Specialist of the Year Award was renamed the Stacy H. Covil Award in honor of Stacy H. Covil, who was devoted to environmental health. He spent 30 years in the field, was a past president of the state Public Health Association and was chief of the Environmental Health Services Section before he retired from the Division of Environmental Health.