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."