City leaders 'blindsided' by Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center closure

ATLANTA - The countdown to closure is on for Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center Downtown. In exactly 60 days Wellstar plans to shut the hospital down.

"I'm sure it's going to be a bad thing for a lot of people," said Erica Youngblood.

Youngblood's husband has been a patient at AMC for more than 50 days. She worries about what the impact will be once the hospital folds.  

"There's a need," she said. "Grady can't handle everybody and there's lots of trauma in our city."

Wellstar announced Wednesday that AMC would close its doors for good on November 1. They say the biggest reason comes down to dollars and cents. Wellstar says the hospital lost more than $100 million last year, and they have not been able to find ways to keep the hospital sustainable.

Atlanta City Councilwoman Liliana Bakhtiari who represents District 5, which the hospital is in, says the city was blindsided.

"My fear is the people that will end up dying because of this, that people will end up bleeding out on the street because of crime or gunshot wounds or other incidents because of this," she said.

Many of those people will have to turn to Grady, which is already busy.

Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center Downtown in Atlanta (FOX 5).

In a critical statement, Grady Health System wrote "... this decision by Wellstar to abandon the community will further strain our operations, particularly our emergency room, as more patients will present with medical needs..."

AMC's closure has the potential to impact minority and underserved communities the most.

"My concern is once again how we are failing our low-income residents, and this again sends the message that because you're barely surviving, we're not going to help you," Councilwoman Bakhtiari said.

While Wellstar seems adamant that the hospital will shut down on November 1st, Councilwoman Bakhtiari would like to see a compromise that would protect patient care in Atlanta.

Wellstar should try "to keep their emergency response open for at least another 8 months to a year while we rapidly all work together to try and pay into a bond or do some fundraising for Grady to allow them to expand as quickly as possible," she said.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens has demanded a meeting with Wellstar leadership in hopes of figuring out a path forward.