NEWS BRIEF: What does the closing of Atlanta Medical Center mean for Atlanta?

With less than two months until its November 1 closing, Atlantans are already mourning the loss of the Atlanta Medical Center (previously-known as Georgia Baptist Hospital) and pondering what its shuttering means for the future of the city.

Over 1,700 employees at AMC will be out of work or have to leave the city for other Wellstar locations. After over two years of doing their part to fight a worldwide pandemic, these hardworking people are seeing their employer turn their back on them in the name of profit. Although this particular hospital has operated at a net loss, Wellstar Health Systems is stated to have over $2 billion in access that could have been used to salvage jobs for their employees.

AMC’s closing is also a huge hit to Atlanta’s healthcare infrastructure, one still recovering from COVID-19’s destruction. Downtown Atlanta will now have 460 less hospital beds, although currently, due to healthcare staffing shortages, only 200 are staffed. Many downtown residents, often low-income, have relied on the location for easily-accessible care.

One Old Fourth Ward resident interviewed by Atlanta Journal-Constitution remarked, “I don’t understand how you hemorrhage money to the point of closing and not dealing with the community.” A former AMC patient hammered the point home “Well the bottom line is, that just adds to the disgrace that we have as a country, in how broken our healthcare system is.” ajc.com