Polk Medical Center, Foundation Provided Funds  

ROCKMART, Ga., Nov. 4, 2024 – Rockmart Middle School and Polk School District officials held a ribbon-cutting for their new greenhouse, built through a donation from Atrium Health Floyd Polk Medical Center provided by the Atrium Health Floyd-Polk Foundation.

The foundation donated a total of $125,000 for site work and the new greenhouse, which sits behind the middle school. Some vegetables started in the greenhouse have already been moved to nearby raised beds.

“Teaching students lifelong skills is one of our goals," said Katie Thomas, Polk School District superintendent, during Friday's event. “You've allowed us to make that happen even at an earlier age," she said to foundation members who attended the event.

“I just wanted to say thank you. We have started out with a few vegetable projects and there are already some things planted in our raised beds," said Jordan Atkins, the agricultural teacher at the middle school. “My whole goal is to help kids see where their food comes from. We showed them how to start from seeds right here in this greenhouse."

Atkins said the school also hopes that students in the agriculture class might be able to eventually grow vegetables that can help feed other students who might need more nutrition at home.

Atrium Health Floyd-Polk Foundation was established in 2021 as a result of the strategic combination of Floyd and Atrium Health. The Foundation currently has assets valued at more than $200 million. Annual investment earnings on the assets are used to support Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center and Atrium Health Floyd Polk Medical Center, which in turn, awards grants to area agencies to address disparities in care and social determinants of health in northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama. 

In the affiliation between Floyd and Atrium Health, the parties along with the Hospital Authority of Floyd County and Cedartown-Polk County Hospital Authority wanted to create a lasting way to positively affect the health of the citizens in our communities to avoid serious health issues at younger ages.  

Previous funds provided by the foundation and awarded through Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center and Atrium Health Floyd Polk Medical Center include:

• $1.3 million to support 33 community agencies in northwest Georgia
• $2 million for new construction and program improvements at the Rome-Floyd YMCA
• $2 million to the new Health Sciences Building at Berry College 

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 strategically combined with Harbin Clinic in 2024 and employs more than 5,200 teammates who provide care in over 40 medical specialties at four facilities: Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center – a 361-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; and Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center Behavioral Health, also in Rome. Together, Atrium Health Floyd and Harbin Clinic provide primary care, specialty care and urgent care 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 Atrium Health Floyd-Polk Foundation 
Atrium Health Floyd-Polk Foundation is a 501(c)(3), not-for-profit funding partner established in 2021 from assets realized from the strategic combination of the Floyd health care system and Atrium Health. The mission of the foundation is to serve as a trusted regional resource partner by investing through its members in community organizations to drive transformational change in health and well-being for all. The primary focus of the foundation is to assist its members in addressing disparities of care in Bartow, Chattooga, Floyd, Gordon and Polk counties in Georgia and in Cherokee County Alabama.