Daviess County Detention Center received the Site of the Year Award by Southern Health Partners for their work over the past year focusing on the inmate patients’ health.
Medical Nurse Jenny Phillips said that the nomination process is done by staff and jailers. Phillips did not know originally that Jailer Art Maglinger had nominated her and her staff.
She said the award is especially meaningful right now because her staff is down four people, leaving them at a total of seven members.
“We have worked really hard and COVID was very hard, especially in a correctional facility,” Phillips said. “We just kind of struggled a little bit, but I have a great team and I couldn’t do it without them. They are the reason that we won this award.”
DCDC was awarded to it due to its ability to “render care, compassion and education in regard to [inmates’] medical situation.”
According to Phillips, ensuring that each of the inmates is healthy and able to be helped is a top priority. She said oftentimes they find inmates are guarded when it comes to revealing certain information regarding their health, but through diligence the staff is able to get the inmates to open up about their situation.
Maglinger said that he originally nominated the staff because he noticed the hard work that Phillips and the medical staff had been putting in at the jail.
“To be a correctional nurse is a special calling and I specifically nominated them because of Jenny’s servant leadership with her staff,” Maglinger said.
