DeKalb CEO asks for $20M to offset impact of Atlanta Medical Center closure – WSB-TV Channel 2

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Native governments are scrambling to select up the items left behind by the sudden closure of Wellstar Atlanta Medical Middle.

AMC stopped taking new emergency room sufferers on Monday and can shut its doorways on Nov. 1.

Now, metro counties try to get hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to different hospitals to select up that slack.

Emory Hillandale may get $14 million to assist increase its emergency division and ICU as different well being care methods attempt to step as much as fill in that hole left behind by AMC’s closing.

“This has main implications when it comes to impression on high quality look after residents of DeKalb, Atlanta and actually all through the state of Georgia,” DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond stated.

Thurmond is asking for $20 million to fill within the well being care hole opened by AMC’s closing.

Below his plan, $8 million would go to Grady Memorial Hospital to assist it increase its emergency division.

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However he desires the majority, $14 million to go to Emory Hillandale, the primary hospital for a part of South DeKalb County.

He desires that cash to increase its emergency division and its ICU and to create a brand new program for victims of gun violence.

“Hillandale is strategically positioned not only for DeKalb however all through that sector. So by constructing capability at Hillandale, we strengthen the healthcare security web all through metro Atlanta,” Thurmond stated.

Whereas Grady will want almost two years to increase its ER capability, Thurmond thinks the $14 million will assist increase Hillandale’s capability instantly — one thing wanted after AMC shut down its ER this week.

“It is a disaster that appears to be rising. So we’ve got to step in, spend money on offering healthcare for all that wants it and significantly for uninsured residents,” Thurmond stated.

The county fee nonetheless has to approve the request. The cash would come from the overall fund and from leftover federal COVID-19 aid cash.

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