Governor Nathan Deal has named Lynn Echols to serve on the Joint Study Committee on Violence against Health Care Workers.
Echols is a registered nurse and serves as the director of the Emergency Department (ED), PrimeCare and Respiratory Therapy at Habersham Medical Center. The Committee was formed by SR981 and signed into legislation by Governor Deal on April 22, 2014. The bill was developed out of concern that 80% of emergency personnel have been assaulted at least once in their career.
The committee is charged with delivering a report due in December of this year. Other members of the committee are three members of the State House, three members of the State Senate. Five seats on the committee have been appointed by the Governor. In addition to Echols, Hany Atallah, Chief and Medical Director of Emergency Medicine at Grady; Versie Davis, Director of Crisis Stabilization Programs and Addictive Disease at Viewpoint Health; Quentin Jude Chief of Police for the Medical Center of Central Georgia Police Department and Kay Hall, Emergency Department Operations Manager for Northeast Georgia Health Systems in Gainesville.
Echols and her husband, Brian, live in Clarkesville and have two children, Ethan and Mary. She received her BSN from Emory University and her Master’s in Nursing from Brenau.
