A 23-year veteran involved in public health, Jerry Bingham has been appointed Ottawa County Health Commissioner. He had been Director of Enfironmental Health and Deputy Health Commissioner under Nancing Osborn, who retired on Tuesday.

Katie Crowell, the current public health nurse and health educator at the Ottawa County Health Department, was appointed as director of nursing. She replaces Diane Kokinda, who retired this week.

Bingham has been with the Ottawa County Health Department for four years. A graduate of Bowling Green State University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in 1995, he earning a Masters Degree in Public Health from the University of Toledo at Bowling Green State University in 2017 as part of the Northwest Ohio Consortium for Public Health.

He was the Northwest Ohio Environmental Health Association Outstanding Sanitarian of the Year in 2012 and received the Wood County Health Department Achievement Award in 2010. In 2015, Bingham served as president of the Ohio Environmental Health Association, and two terms as director of the Northwest Ohio Environmental Health Association in 2006 and 2013.

Crowell has been working in healthcare and health education since 2013. She earned an Associate’s Degree in Nursing, a Bachelor’s of Science, and a Master’s of Public Health from the University of Toledo/ Bowling Green State University as part of the Northwest Ohio Consortium for Public Health.

Crowell began working at the Ottawa County Health Department in 2018 as the health educator and a public health nurse. She has worked in various clinic settings within the health department, including the senior clinics, and was visible in the community during public health education events.

Also the public information specialist at OCHD, Crowell has taken a very active role in the current pandemic.