Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

McAdams Earns Tom T. Ross Award

Janet McAdams, administrator of the Nevada County Health Unit, received the Tom T. Ross Award from the Arkansas Public Health Association at its annual meeting held May 3 in Hot Springs.

The Ross Award is the highest award presented by the association. Tom T. Ross, father of Ann Ross Wilson of Prescott, was a graduate of Hendrix College, Tulane University Medical School and received a master's of public health from Harvard University.

Dr. Ross was the Clark County medical director from 1929 until his death in 1959. He served as director of the State Board of Health from 1936 until 1943. Dr. Ross cared deeply about others and was dedicated to public health.

McAdams received the Ross Award for her work in her community. She is currently president of Friends of the Library and is a member of the South Central Leadership Academy. She is president of the Nevada County TEA Coalition, immediate past secretary-treasurer of the Women's Tennis Association and served as Girl Scout leader for six years.

This year she is coordinating the community Health Alliance which sponsor a yearly Health Fair, working with high schools throughout the county, she initiated the first Teen Summit which encourages teens to make healthy lifelong decisions about prevention of disease and teen pregnancy.

She has also written grants for funding for the Ila Upchurch Community Corporation, which sponsors the Boys to Men and Girls to Women program for students.

On the state level she has served as president of the Public Health Nursing Association, a community chair of the Arkansas Public Health Association and the Arkansas Public Health Leadership Academy.