Another Hospital Closure, Notes for future reference

My Twitter Thread to Greg Bluestein. 

Greg Bluestein is an American journalist, author and TV analyst who covers Georgia politics for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has also written about former President Jimmy Carter and covered regional and national news as an Atlanta-based journalist for The Associated Press.

This may be out of your bailiwick but I don't know who else to contact. Wellstar's closing downtown reminded me of Atlanta's long history of medical care.

When I was at GSU in the 70's there was an "infirmary" or dorm for nurses on Piedmont that was later closed. I was aware because I met someone at GSU who had a room there.

When we lived in VA-Highland we were very aware of Grady, of course, because part of our property tax went for "Atl-Fulton County Hospital Authority."

As an Army Medic x-ray tech I once explored the notion of that as a post-retirement job & at that time I got to interview Grady & have a tour.

Grady was later saved when a crisis galvanized a consortium of other metro hospitals to find salvation (lest all those poor people flood their ERs) & Emory became the final salvation. 

My mother's final days were at A.G Rhodes, one of the best nursing homes in Atlanta which also happens to be non-profit with an impressive humanitarian history, a large endowment and smooth connections with Medicaid (essential for all long-term nursing care). 

A web search turned up this interesting link about the history of Atlanta hospitals & other facilities.

I'm tossing all this in your lap in case you or someone you know is interested in looking into the backstory of that Wellstar facility. 

Something tells me that yet another closure of a badly-needed facility which I'm confident is overloaded with "charity care" is just another step in a long history in America of healthcare systems providing top-quality care to those with money and crumbs to those without.

Thanks