Family Physicians Present Legislative Achievement Awards to Two State Lawmakers

September 20, 2007

 St. Louis Park, MN — Two Minnesota lawmakers received top honors from the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians (MAFP) for their successes in the legislature.

The Academy presented State Representative Thomas Huntley, Duluth, and State Senator Kathy Sheran, Mankato, with 2007 Legislative Achievement Awards for their work as authors of the Freedom to Breathe Act.

The new law, which bans smoking in virtually all indoor public places and indoor places of employment, including bars, restaurants, and common areas of apartment buildings and hotels, takes effect October 1, 2007. It was a top legislative priority of the MAFP because the measure will protect employees and the public from the health hazards of secondhand smoke.

The Legislative Achievement Award is given to state or federal legislators from Minnesota in recognition of a specific action that has benefited patients or family medicine. 

The Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians is a professional association of approximately 3,000 family physicians, family medicine residents and medical students established to assist family physicians in providing quality medical care in Minnesota.  The MAFP is the largest specialty organization in Minnesota and is a state chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians, the largest medical specialty organization in the United States, with more than 90,000 members.

Virginia Barzan, C.A.E., MAFP Executive Vice President, and Lynne Lillie, M.D., MAFP President, present a 2007 Legislative Achievement Award to State Senator Kathy Sheran.

Virginia Barzan, C.A.E., MAFP Executive Vice President, and Lynne Lillie, M.D., MAFP President, present a 2007 Legislative Achievement Award to State Representative Thomas Huntley.

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