FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 16, 2021  

Greetings, media partners.

On July 19, 2021, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) welcomed a new director of media relations and agency spokesperson, Ron Aiken. Many of you may know Ron from his 20-year career in journalism at newspapers, websites, and radio and television stations. Most recently Ron has run the media relations department for the Office of Regulatory Staff since 2017.

Laura Renwick and Derrek Asberry remain in their critical roles as public information officers coordinating daily responses to all media queries. We ask that you continue to go through the media relations department exclusively for any queries. This process allows us to officially log your request as it comes in and get your questions answered by the best spokesperson/subject matter expert possible within your deadline.

DHEC experts are working physicians, scientists, and inspectors, and may not be available for interviews at all times. A public information officer can help you find the best expert or spokesperson available.

Our overall goal as a media relations department is to communicate public health and environmental science information to all media and public stakeholder groups in a responsive, responsible manner focusing on accuracy, transparency and accountability. We want media members covering DHEC to do their best work, and we will do everything we can to make that possible.

We will fulfil our ethical duty to the people of South Carolina to give them the most accurate, up-to-date information available to us and provide agency leadership with strategic guidance with which to make decisions.

We welcome your feedback and look forward to working with you as you report stories that impact the health and well-being of the people of South Carolina. We pledge our best efforts to you in that worthy cause.

Sincerely,

Ron Aiken

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DHEC Media Relations 803-898-7769 media@dhec.sc.gov