ATLANTA – Emory Healthcare is grateful to DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond and the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners for supporting Emory Hillandale Hospital in the wake of Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center’s (AMC) impending closure. At the Oct. 11 Board of Commissioners meeting, $12 million in critical funding was championed by CEO Thurmond and approved by the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners to expand and renovate parts of Emory Hillandale Hospital.
The funding will assist in ensuring and improving access to local care for DeKalb County residents as health care systems across Atlanta are strained by AMC’s closure. Specifically, the funds will be used to:
• Expand the Emory Hillandale Hospital emergency department waiting room and add up to 15 emergency bays to support improved access for patients
• Renovate the Emory Hillandale Hospital intensive care unit (ICU) to improve local access to critical care services
• Improve emergency imaging services including replacement of a CT scanner at Emory Hillandale Hospital to support continued patient care needs
• Support development of a hospital-based violence prevention and trauma recovery pilot program to serve as a model for hospital-based violence interruption programs for Georgia hospitals
“We are very appreciative of the funding supported by CEO Thurmond and approved by the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners for expansion and improvement needs at Emory Hillandale Hospital, as we prepare for an increase in patients who need our services and care,” says Rashard Johnson, CEO of Emory Hillandale Hospital, Emory Decatur Hospital and Emory Long-Term Acute Care. “The impending AMC closure is already creating ripple effects across the metro Atlanta health care infrastructure and this critical funding will help to ensure the needs of our community are met.”
Emory Hillandale Hospital, a 100-bed facility located in Stonecrest in eastern DeKalb County, opened in 2005 as a part of DeKalb Medical. In 2018, the hospital became a part of Emory Healthcare, Georgia’s most comprehensive academic health system, along with Emory Decatur Hospital and Emory Long-Term Acute Care.
Emory Healthcare looks forward to ongoing conversations and engagement with local, state and federal government officials and with other regional health leaders to formulate additional needed solutions to serve the short- and long-term health care needs of metro Atlanta.