GCHD Wishes Four Staff Members Well in Their Retirement

By Diane Lee, Public Information Officer, Garrett County Health Department

The Garrett County Health Department has had four retirements in the past six months, with three of the retirees having more than 30 years of service with GCHD. The grand total of years for the four retirees is 122 years of service.

Theresa Cavalier retired on September 1, 2022, from Healthy Families after working at the Health Department for almost 24 years. She started out splitting her hours between two departments for a short time, but then transferred to Healthy Families where she spent the rest of her career with GCHD. 

“In addition to her normal duties in our office, Theresa was a great asset to our program’s quality assurance process,” said Maria Friend, Director of Early Care and Healthy Families.

“I worked various jobs in Healthy Families from clerical to Maryland Children’s Health Program applications and finally Quality Assurance. I think the QA position was both my most frustrating and my most rewarding – when all the numbers agreed!”

Cavalier misses the people she worked with at GCHD, but plans to spend more time with her family, go camping, and work on household projects.

Marina Getz made her last patient visit in October 2022 after working as a contract physical therapist for Home Health for 32 years. Getz estimates that she made at least 32,000 visits during that time but admitted that the actual number is probably even higher.

“Without a doubt, my favorite part of my job was patient care,” Getz said. “I loved, loved, loved visiting my patients. I loved seeing improvements in my patients and being rewarded by those improvements. I miss it, and I miss the interaction with my coworkers!”

“I first met Marina when I started in Home Health in 2012”, said Home Health Director Cheryl Scheffel. “I asked her to allow me to go along with her while she performed therapy on a mutual patient of ours.  She was wonderful with him, patient and kind, but purposeful in instructing and motivating him to be diligent in performing his exercises. It gave me a better understanding as to how, as nurses and therapists, we must work together to help our patients achieve their goal to return to their quality of life. She will be greatly missed.”

“Marina spent so many years with us that her retirement party turned out to be somewhat of a Homecoming for Home Health retirees and staff said Health Officer Bob Stephens. “We will all miss her.”

In addition to taking advantage of retirement to help take care of local family members, Getz also plans to travel to South Africa to spend time with her siblings. “I’ve never been able to visit for a whole month at a time before,” she said. She also hopes to travel around the US with friends, and maybe even to Italy.

Dr. Stewart Callis retired on December 1, 2022, after serving in Behavioral Health as a Physician Clinical Specialist for nearly 32 years. 

Dr. Callis provided psychiatric services to hundreds of Garrett County Behavioral Health Center clients during his time at GCHD. He also served as the Medical Director for the Center.

“For many years Dr. Callis was the only practicing psychiatrist in Garrett County,” said Stephens. “Our community will certainly miss his services. Dr. Callis was extremely knowledgeable and very dedicated to his patients. During the aftermath of hurricane Sandy, Dr. Callus went to extraordinary measures to make sure patients had access to their medications.”  

Steve Sherrard retired as Director of Environmental Health on January 1, 2023, after just over 34 years with the Health Department. 

Sherrard started his career at GCHD as a sanitarian trainee in July of 1988. After working his way through the sanitarian series, he became assistant director of Environmental Health in July of 1993 and was promoted to director in October of 1996.

“My favorite part of working in Environmental Health, other than the people I worked with, was helping the people who needed our services,” Sherrard said. “I always enjoyed coming to work because of the people who work there – I will miss the people the most.”  

“Steve worked with the staff over the last few years to make sure the Environmental Health program was ready for his retirement,” said Stephens. “Our Environmental Health program is the envy of local health departments around the State.”

In his retirement, Sherrard plans to have more time for his farm, work on his reading list, and continue his lifetime of learning about things that interest him.

If you are interested in applying for a job with the Garrett County Health Department, find the Job & Careers link on the front page of GarrettHealth.org and fill out an application online.