| Date: July 1, 2011 | Media Contact: | Chuck Moran |
| | | Pennsylvania Medical Society |
| For Immediate Release | | (717) 558-7820 |
(Harrisburg, PA) An Erie physician whose passion for helping people is the driving force behind years of providing volunteer medical and other services has been named the 2011 recipient of the Pennsylvania Medical Society’s Physician Award for Community Voluntary Service.
Eardly K. Wickramasinghe, MD, a general practitioner and hospitalist who joined the Pennsylvania Medical Society in 1973, was chosen for the award after the statewide organization’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously to award him the honor.
Dr. Wickramasinghe has a long history of volunteerism within the Erie community. He has organized the “Start Your Day Right” breakfast food collection drive that benefitted the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest Pennsylvania. Within these efforts he enticed 104 Erie County physician offices to join the drive that collected and distributed 2,017 pounds of healthy breakfast foods for the needy.
He also initiated the “Sheltering the Community” program which created and administered a team of Erie County Medical Society physicians to conduct bi-monthly medical clinics at the main homeless shelters maintained by the Erie United Methodist Alliance.
And, he also led the planning and implementation of the Erie County Medical Society’s “Health Fair in Perry Square.”
In addition, his volunteer work expands to other parts of the world. In 2004, Dr. Wickramasinghe was instrumental in organizing and overseeing the collection of medical supplies and money from Erie to assist victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami.
Dr. Wickramasinghe will receive the award at the Pennsylvania Medical Society’s annual House of Delegates meeting in Hershey on October 15.
The Pennsylvania Medical Society was founded in 1848, and today, the physician members continue to focus on better health for all Pennsylvanians. To learn more about the Pennsylvania Medical Society, visit its website at www.pamedsoc.org or its patient website at www.myfamilywellness.org.
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