Atlanta City Council asks Wellstar to reconsider closure of ER in East Point

ATLANTA - The Atlanta City Council is asking Wellstar Health System to reconsider its decision to close Atlanta Medical Center South.

The council passed a resolution during its meeting on Monday citing the hospital's 50-year history and outlining the need for the facility in south Atlanta and south Fulton County.

Council member Antonio Lewis introduced the resolution that among others things stated it is the only full-service hospital south of Interstate 20 in Fulton County as opposed to the 12 similar facilities in the northern part of the county.

The resolution also supports the Fulton County Board of Commissioners working with Wellstar to keep the fully-staffed hospital and emergency room.

The city has been concerned about emergency health care access. Last week, the council authorized the purchase of two new ambulances so fire paramedics can transport patients in areas where Grady EMS response times have been lacking. Those areas overlap the area where the hospital currently serves.

Wellstar announced last month the hospital, which is located on Cleveland Avenue in East Point, would transition from a traditional hospital with an ER into a 24-hour urgent care and rehabilitation clinic. It has already begun to reassign much of the staff to other hospitals.

That transition should happen by the end of this week.