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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
| 3 | Representatives are pleased to congratulate Thomas J. Schafer | ||||||
| 4 | on the occasion of his retirement after 27 years of | ||||||
| 5 | distinguished service with the Illinois Department of Public | ||||||
| 6 | Health, the last 7 years of which he served as the Deputy | ||||||
| 7 | Director in the Office Health Promotion; and
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| 8 | WHEREAS, Thomas Schafer functioned admirably as a jack of | ||||||
| 9 | all trades for 5 directors of the Department of Public Health, | ||||||
| 10 | as demonstrated by his innate ability to handle various | ||||||
| 11 | assignments during his nearly 3 decades serving the public's | ||||||
| 12 | health; he served for 7 years as the Deputy of Director in the | ||||||
| 13 | Office of Health Promotion, 3 years as the Chief of the | ||||||
| 14 | Division of Social Marketing and Emergency Risk | ||||||
| 15 | Communications, and 17 years as the Department's Chief of | ||||||
| 16 | Communications; and
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| 17 | WHEREAS, Thomas Schafer was assigned on 2 separate | ||||||
| 18 | occasions to the Governor's Office, first as a Special | ||||||
| 19 | Assistant to the Governor at the request of Governor Jim Edgar, | ||||||
| 20 | where he researched and authored the 186-page book "Meeting the | ||||||
| 21 | Challenge: The Edgar Administration, 1991-1999", and second as | ||||||
| 22 | the Springfield Press Secretary under Governor Rod R. | ||||||
| 23 | Blagojevich; and
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| 1 | WHEREAS, Thomas Schafer developed the Department of Public | ||||||
| 2 | Health's first website; he handled emergency communications | ||||||
| 3 | for the 1998 multistate outbreak of Salmonella Serotype Agona | ||||||
| 4 | infections linked to Toasted Oats cereal, in which Illinois | ||||||
| 5 | reported the highest number cases in the country; he also | ||||||
| 6 | advised the Director's office during the 2009 H1N1 influenza | ||||||
| 7 | pandemic and developed the rules and implemented the Smoke Free | ||||||
| 8 | Illinois Act; and
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| 9 | WHEREAS, Thomas Schafer was a founding member of the | ||||||
| 10 | National Public Health Information Coalition and served as the | ||||||
| 11 | organization's Region V President; and
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| 12 | WHEREAS, Thomas Schafer worked as a reporter and editor at | ||||||
| 13 | the Rockford Register Star, a Springfield correspondent for | ||||||
| 14 | Gannet News Service, and the Florida Bureau Chief in | ||||||
| 15 | Tallahassee for Gannett News Service before transferring his | ||||||
| 16 | reporting and editing skills to provide expert communications | ||||||
| 17 | for the Department of Public Health; therefore, be it
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| 18 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
| 19 | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | ||||||
| 20 | congratulate Thomas J. Schafer on the occasion of his | ||||||
| 21 | retirement after many years of distinguished service with the | ||||||
| 22 | Illinois Department of Public Health and wish him the best in | ||||||
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| 1 | all his future endeavors; and be it further
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| 2 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
| 3 | presented to Thomas J. Schafer as an expression of our esteem | ||||||
| 4 | and respect.
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