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Jed Boal ReportingTwenty years ago, employees of the Utah Department of Health moved into a brand new building.
Today they celebrated milestones in health care and honored the woman who pioneered better health in Utah more than a century ago.
The Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon building is the first state government building in Utah designated entirely smoke-free when it opened. That's the kind of public health initiative that would have made Dr. Cannon proud.
It only seems fitting that the 20th anniversary of the Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon building would be commemorated with shots from two civil war era replica cannons.
Dr. Cannon plays a prominent role in public health history. The first female state senator in the U.S., Cannon introduced legislation that established Utah's first Board of Health.
A statue of Dr. Cannon stands in the capitol rotunda. She was an outspoken advocate of public health. She pushed for tougher laws to rid the community of disease.
Allen Korhonen/Deputy Dir. of Utah Dept. of Health: "Martha Hughes Cannon was an amazing leader. She was very active in the women's suffrage movement, and spoke nationally on the issue."
Times have changed. The mission is the same, but with a much broader scope.
Allen Korhonen/Deputy Dir. of Utah Dept. of Health: "When you look at today's issues, they have to do with pandemic flu and the migration from one continent to another. Clearly the nature of public health has changed since the time of Martha Hughes Cannon."
The home of most Department of Health programs was built in two years for 16 million dollars.
Richard Melton/Deputy Dir. of Utah Dept. of Health: "The dedication of this buildig was an important step for what was then a relatively new Department of Health."
Employees also walked the Gold Medal Mile fitness trail near the building. It was lined with markers commemorating key milestones in Utah's public health history.
Here's another interesting note about Martha Hughes Cannon: She championed a bill to educate public school students about the effects of alcohol and narcotics, the first drug and alcohol curriculum for the state.
