Funds Will Improve Grizzard Soccer Complex, Anti-Hunger and Youth Programs
ROME, GA., October 25, 2024 – Atrium Health Floyd-Polk Foundation and Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center announced Wednesday the award of over $2 million to the Rome-Floyd YMCA for the 25th Anniversary Capital Campaign for Grizzard Park.
As part of the agreement, Atrium Health Floyd will be the principal healthcare partner of the Rome-Floyd YMCA at Grizzard Park. The gift will also support the organization's anti-hunger effort, help the YMCA maintain its cardio room and support other community programs.
The investment comes a month after the foundation awarded $1.3 million in grants to Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center and Atrium Health Floyd Polk Medical Center which were used to support 33 community agencies across northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama as part of their inaugural Community Impact Grant cycle for 2024.
“We are thrilled to partner with the YMCA in their efforts to support underserved families, along with helping them make needed improvements," said Mary Helen Heaner, chair of the foundation. “This is an exciting announcement for our Foundation and for Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center, through whom these funds are granted, and for the families in our community. The Foundation was established to make a difference in the communities we serve. This partnership will make for a healthier community and improve physical and mental health in our youth."
Atrium Health Floyd will provide a blood pressure kiosk, athletic training services, emergency medical services, health education, safety programming and health screenings through the partnership.
“Both Atrium Health Floyd and the Harbin Clinic have long supported the YMCA," said Kurt Stuenkel, President of Atrium Health Floyd. “The foundation's gift allows us to strengthen that partnership in alignment with our mission to improve health, elevate hope and advance healing – for ALL."
Atrium Health Floyd already supports the YMCA's mobile food markets, which ensure children, families and seniors are able to access healthy and nutritious food. Those locations include the Gilbreath Center in Garden Lakes, Restoration Rome on Crane Street and Cave Spring Baptist Church, 4 Cedartown Street in Cave Spring.
The organization provides more than a million pounds of healthy food to families and children each year.
The YMCA also provides activities aimed at keeping kids healthy through their soccer and basketball programs and day camps. Swimming lessons are also offered at the facility's indoor heated pool, which includes time for family fun swims.
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 were used to support Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center and Atrium Health Floyd Polk Medical Center, which in turn, awarded 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.
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.
About Atrium Health Floyd
Since 1942, Floyd, now Atrium Health Floyd, has worked to provide affordable, accessible care in northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama. Today, Atrium Health Floyd is a leading medical provider and economic force. As part of the largest, integrated, nonprofit health system in the Southeast, it is also able to tap into some of the nation's leading medical experts and specialists with Atrium Health, allowing it to provide the best care close to home – including advanced innovations in virtual medicine and care. At the hub of these services is Floyd Medical Center, a 304-bed full-service, acute care hospital and regional referral center. Atrium Health Floyd employs more than 3,400 teammates who provide care in over 40 medical specialties at three hospitals: Floyd Medical Center in Rome, Georgia; Floyd Cherokee Medical Center in Centre, Alabama; Floyd Polk Medical Center in Cedartown, Georgia, as well as Floyd Behavioral Health Center, a freestanding 53-bed behavioral health facility, also in Rome; and a primary care and urgent care network with locations throughout the service area of northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama.