For thirteen years, the residents had to drive to Newnan for a medical appointment or to Grady Hospital in Atlanta for hospital services. The distances community members had to travel for medical care were a great hardship, so with a grant under the Rural Health Initiative Program, PHC began an 18–month long process to do the ground work and apply for federal funding to open its own medical center. Their hard work brought in the funds to open the Community Medical Center of Palmetto in April 1980.

Even before the clinic doors opened, though, PHC began working to help its community’s citizens. Dr. Virginia Floyd, the center’s first physician, drove around town in her yellow VW and made house calls to residents listed on the sick lists found in local churches’ Sunday bulletins. She went to the local elementary schools to educate the children about good health, and even helped one school to host its own Health Fair where the kids performed screening tests for their parents.

PHC’s mission to serve its community was solidified by its very first patient, who told Dr. Floyd, "We need someone to take care of us as a community." The entire organization, everyone from the Board of Directors to the front line staff, have sought to take care of the communities it serves. Since 1980, PHC has grown from one to seven Community Medical Centers. It merged with Pike County Primary Health Care in 1996, opened an office in Hogansville 2007, another in Carrollton in 2008, and two more in Greenville and Manchester in 2009. PHC has also expanded its services to provide primary care, obstetrics and gynecology, mental health, dental care, and pharmacy. As PHC continues to grow, it will build upon the strong foundation it has laid by taking care of the communities it serves.