There’s no denying the historical past one mile east of downtown Atlanta. It’s the birthplace of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the house of Ebenezer Baptist Church. Inside a mile’s stroll, there are testaments to Black persistence.
Many locally really feel they've a brand new battle on their hand with the closure of Atlantic Medical Heart, beforehand knowns as Georgia Baptist Hospital.
“Individuals have been right here for generations,” mentioned Louis Negron. “With it now being gone, there's going to be a blight locally of well being care and entry.”
Janani Thapa teaches and research rural-urban disparities on the College of Georgia. For a decade, the narrative round hospitals shutting down has targeted on medical services closing in rural areas. Nonetheless, internal cities aren't immune— with closures in Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
“We're a state the place we have to do lots of work in ensuring everybody has equal entry to well being care,” Thapa mentioned.
The introduced plans final 12 months to stop operations. Wellstar pledged to “proceed its dedication to the well being of the greater than 1.6 million Georgians throughout our various communities.” However the communities it vacated, in Atlanta and East Level, are largely low-income and largely Black.
When rural hospitals shut, they usually go away residents dozens of miles from the following obtainable possibility. In cities, there’s at the least the phantasm of entry. Grady Hospital is a mile away.
“This was a walkable hospital. So many individuals have been strolling through the day, through the night. If there was an emergency, they could possibly be right here in a short time. Although we see Grady is definitely throughout the freeway in a nook, it is a way more troublesome trek to get there than this one right here,” Negron mentioned.
Grady Hospital is now Atlanta’s solely stage 1 trauma heart. It declared in November that it's not going anyplace, however acknowledged it is seeing an inflow in sufferers.
The hospital and the state of Georgia have offered further sources. Nonetheless, in the case of entry to well being care, it’s one other downside that impacts two communities that hardly ever talk, these miles away from the town and people one mile away from downtown.
“I believe it’s a loss for the neighborhood. I believe it’s a misplaced alternative,” Negron mentioned.