Doctor has history with Georgia Healthy Family Alliance, Free Clinic of Rome
ROME, Ga., March 5, 2024 – Dr. P.J. Lynn, medical director of emergency and hospital medicine at Atrium Health Floyd Cherokee Medical Center, has received the 2023 Family Physician Community and Volunteer Services Award from the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians.
The award recognizes physicians' outstanding support of their local communities and outstanding contributions in philanthropy.
Dr. Lynn received the honor, in part, because of his work with the Georgia Healthy Family Alliance and the Free Clinic of Rome. He has been involved with the Alliance since 2013.
“The mission of the Alliance is aligned with my own – to serve the residents of Georgia with educational and outreach programs that support health initiatives and needs identified by family doctors," said Dr. Lynn. “We have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for communities in Georgia and rejuvenated an educational program called Tar Wars to warn children and teenagers about the dangers of vaping and combat the current epidemic."
Dr. Lynn has been volunteering at free clinics since 2009, when he helped start a medical student-run free clinic in Gainesville, Florida. “I carried that with me into residency training at Floyd with the Free Clinic of Rome, where I have been volunteering since 2012," he said.
The Free Clinic of Rome is a faith-based, community supported non-profit organization whose mission is to serve the Greater Rome area by providing quality health care services to uninsured residents who have no access to basic healthcare.
Dr. Lynn became the medical director of the clinic in 2017.
“I devote my time and talent because, while there is an unending sea of need in the world, I know I have been called to make a small difference around me. This award is a recognition of the time and energy I have put into my community. I hope recognition of a local family doctor might encourage other health care providers to donate their time and energy as well."
About Atrium Health Floyd
The Atrium Health Floyd family of health care services is a leading medical provider and economic force in northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama. Atrium Health Floyd is part of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Advocate Health, the third-largest nonprofit health system in the United States, created from the combination of Atrium Health and Advocate Aurora Health. Atrium Health Floyd employs more than 3,500 teammates who provide care in over 40 medical specialties at three hospitals: Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center – a 304-bed full-service, acute care hospital and regional referral center in Rome, Georgia; Atrium Health Floyd Polk Medical Center in Cedartown, Georgia; and Atrium Health Floyd Cherokee Medical Center in Centre, Alabama; as well as Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center Behavioral Health – a freestanding 53-bed behavioral health facility in Rome – and also primary care and urgent care network locations throughout northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama. Atrium Health Floyd also operates a stand-alone emergency department in Chattooga County, the first such facility to be built from the ground-up in Georgia.
About Advocate Health
Advocate Health is the third-largest nonprofit integrated health system in the United States – created from the combination of Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health. Providing care under the names Advocate Health Care in Illinois, Atrium Health in the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama, and Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin, Advocate Health is a national leader in clinical innovation, health outcomes, consumer experience and value-based care, with Wake Forest University School of Medicine serving as the academic core of the enterprise. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Advocate Health serves nearly 6 million patients and is engaged in hundreds of clinical trials and research studies. It is nationally recognized for its expertise in cardiology, neurosciences, oncology, pediatrics and rehabilitation, as well as organ transplants, burn treatments and specialized musculoskeletal programs. Advocate Health employs nearly 155,000 team members across 68 hospitals and over 1,000 care locations and offers one of the nation's largest graduate medical education programs with over 2,000 residents and fellows across more than 200 programs. Committed to equitable care for all, Advocate Health provides nearly $6 billion in annual community benefits.