ATLANTA — Halloween denoted the end of an era, not just for Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center, but also for the hundreds of employees who spent years making a living and caring for patients there. It's the culmination of weeks of dread and heartache after health system officials announced in late August that the hospital would close November 1.
11Alive ran into Mary Hooks, who lives within walking distance of the hospital and has been going there for 10 years. Dressed in a costume for Halloween, the festive Hooks sounded frightened about the hospital's closure.
"Just when I went to take a mammogram, they said I needed to take more tests, and I can’t go back to the hospital because it’s closed down," Hooks said. "I’ve been trying to get people, and I could be sick and don’t know it. I just don’t know what to do anymore.”
Brenda Tano also lives close to AMC. She doesn't have a car, can't afford to regularly ride the bus and has limited mobility. She's recently turned to Grady Hospital to take care of her primary healthcare needs.
“It’s hard, it’s hard and I just really hate they’re getting rid of this hospital," Tano said. "We need a hospital. We need a hospital here.”
Wellstar cited decreasing revenue and increasing costs for medical staff and supplies throughout the pandemic as reasons for closing AMC, which had served Old Fourth Ward, Downtown and other Atlanta residents for decades. The hospital's closure comes as other healthcare options are dwindling for those who live on the Southside of the city. Grady Hospital has taken on more patients, as it is now the only level one trauma center left in Metro Atlanta.
The hustle and bustle of AMC just a few weeks ago has since dwindled. The emergency department already closed a couple of weeks ago, as barricades and security stood outside the doors. Many patients had been transferred elsewhere or discharged to go home in the last week, according to hospital staff. Just a few employees were working their last shifts at the hospital before it shut down at midnight.
Ashley Blackmon, who worked at AMC for six years as an ICU nurse, called the hospital's closing bittersweet. The day that had been dreaded for weeks had finally arrived. Blackmon said AMC launched her career and helped shape her into the person she is today.
"A lot of us are really heartbroken," Blackmon said. "We were kind of hoping there would be some miracle last-minute. We’re grieving a lot. We’ve been telling a lot of stories online and reminiscing and it is a huge loss. The effects are going to be immeasurable.”
Blackmon said she believed people would die due to the decision to close AMC because of a lack of adequate access to health care. Businesses and other people who have grown up in the community, she said, would lack opportunities to grow with the hospital shutting down.
"This closure is more than the emergency department and the ICU," Blackmon said. "It’s also every service you can imagine: neurology, cardiology, primary care that people, this entire community, the state and Southeast are losing. Nothing was taken into consideration except for Wellstar’s bottom line, because this is unethical and morally wrong.”
11Alive reached out to Wellstar for comment, but we have not heard back yet.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens has placed a moratorium on redeveloping the property, but that expires in April. It also doesn't change the fact that Mary Hooks, Brenda Tano and many others on limited incomes need help now.
"We need a hospital," Tano said. We need a hospital here."
There are also changes coming for some physician offices. According to its website, some Wellstar Medical Group physician offices affiliated with AMC "are not positioned to provide the integrated care patients need moving forward" and will close by Nov. 18.
"Patients at affected clinician offices will receive a letter from Wellstar about where their physician is moving or how they can find a new clinician at Wellstar or another healthcare provider according to their needs and location," the website indicates.