News Release
Date: February 28, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Local Family Doctor Celebrates National Membership
Columbia, Md - Lindiwe F. Greenwood, M.D. from Columbia, MD has completed continuing medical education requirements to retain membership in the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the only medical specialty organization devoted solely to primary care.
As members of the AAFP, family physicians are required to complete 150 hours of continuing medical education every three years. This ensures that family physicians remain educated on the most up-to-date medical technologies, research and techniques.
Family physicians, like other medical specialists, complete an extensive three-year residency program in the specialty after graduating from medical school. As part of their residency, family physicians receive training in six major medical areas: pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, psychiatry and neurology, surgery and community medicine. They also receive instruction in many other areas including geriatrics, emergency medicine, ophthalmology, radiology, sports medicine and urology. As a result, family physicians are the only medical specialists qualified to provide comprehensive health care for people of all ages.
People choose family physicians because they are trained to treat a broad range of illnesses from coughs, ear infections, chest pain, diabetes and hypertension, as well as to provide prenatal care and well baby exams. In fact, 207 million office visits are made to family physicians each year. This is 62 million more visits than to any other medical specialty.
The AAFP is the national medical organization representing more than 94,000 family physicians, family practice residents and medical students nationwide. The AAFP was instrumental in establishing the medical specialty of family practice in 1969.
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NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: For additional information about the American Academy of Family Physicians, log on to its Web site at http://www.aafp.org or call Barbara Kowalski at 1-800-274-2237, ext. 5204.
Founded in 1947, the AAFP represents more than 94,000 physicians and medical students nationwide. It is the only medical society devoted solely to primary care.
Nearly one in four of all office visits are made to general and family physicians. That is 207 million office visits each year - 62 million more than to any other medical specialty. Today, fami physicians provide the majority of care for America's underserved and rural populations.
In the increasingly fragmented world of health care where many medical specialties limit their practice to a particular organ, disease, age or sex, family physicians are dedicated to treating tli whole person across the full spectrum of ages. Family medicine's cornerstone is an ongoing, personal patient-physician relationship focused on integrated care.
To learn more about the American Academy of Family physicians and about the specialty of family medicine, please visit http://www.aafp.orQ.