Children's Health of Atlanta Arthur M. Blank Hospital to open soon

ATLANTA - The new Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Medical campus is still on target to open September 29.

The Arthur M. Blank Hospital will replace the nearby Egleston campus. The $1.5 billion dollar Brookhaven hospital is located off North Druid Hills Road and Interstate 85. It is just over 70 acres, making it ten times larger than Egleston.

The 19-story facility will have a larger emergency department projected to handle about 105,000 patient visits compared to an average of 81,000 at Egleston. 

The new hospital will have 446 beds, 116 more than the old hospital.

"We desperately needed more capacity," said Donna Hyland, Chief Executive Officer at Children's. "There were times when we had no beds available."

The rooms at Arthur M. Blank have views of the Atlanta skyline and are about 50% larger than the current rooms. Each room has multiple televisions and a double bed pull out sofa. Each floor has a laundromat and kitchenette, too.

"Those are things our families told us they needed," said Hyland.

About 1,000 new employees are being brought in to work at the hospital.

On September 29, Egleston's emergency room will close at 7 a.m. and the new emergency room will open. More than 300 patients will be moved to the new hospital via more than four dozen ambulances and a helicopter. The move is expected to last 10 hours along the Clifton Road, Briarcliff Road and North Druid Hills Road corridor.

It's unclear what will happen to the soon-to-be vacant 7-acre Egleston campus. 

"We have been completely focused on Arthur M. Blank," said Chris Chellette, senior vice president of facilities at Children's. "The future of Egleston has yet to be determined. There is no timetable."