Atlanta charity clinic preps for patient increase due to closing of Atlanta Medical Center

ATLANTA — Atlanta Medical Heart will shut utterly on Nov. 1. As that date looms, charity clinics are bracing for a surge of recent sufferers.

Channel 2′s Tom Regan spoke with Mercy Care in downtown Atlanta, they usually advised him it’s going to be a problem treating all these additional sufferers.

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The clinic is closed on weekends, however on a typical weekday, they serve 60 to 80 sufferers. And so they anticipate that quantity to shortly develop over 100.

“That is going to be a giant problem for the group,” Anitra Walker with Mercy Care advised Channel 2 Motion Information.

On weekdays, this clinic is bustling with homeless, uninsured and low-income sufferers. They anticipate the quantity to rise sharply with the closing of Atlanta Medical Heart.

“(The closure is) disappointing. It was undoubtedly a wanted useful resource in the neighborhood. There’s not plenty of locations for people to go for an emergency care,” Walker mentioned.

Mercy Care is supported by federal funding, state funding and donations, and they present an array of providers together with medical, dental, optometry and behavioral well being.

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The timing of AMC’s closing couldn’t be worse.

“We’re assembly with Grady, attempting to determine the very best method to deal with this want that’s coming,” mentioned Walker. “Our workers are already fairly battle-weary from COVID.”

Grady Hospital’s chief medical officer advised Channel 2 Motion Information the variety of trauma affected person each by ambulance and walk-in is rising quick with the closing of AMC.

“We’ve got already seen an uptick of about 30%. We additionally noticed a giant improve in air ambulance visitors; that quantity has doubled,” Robert Jansen, Grady medical director, mentioned.

Grady can also be doing one thing to assist with the inflow of sufferers from AMC.

The medical director advised Channel 2 Motion Information they’re planning to herald a brief cellular hospital that can add 25 beds, however that’s not prone to be in place till the top of the 12 months.

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