Urban Atlanta nonprofit clinics fill medical void due to hospital closure

By Georgia Baptist Health Care Ministry Foundation

ATLANTA, Ga. — Atlanta’s nonprofit health care clinics are feeling the brunt of demand triggered in part by the late 2022 closure of Atlanta Medical Center. Several clinics located within the city limits use grants from the Georgia Baptist Health Care Ministry Foundation (GBHCMF) to provide convenient health care to those in need.

“We are a free clinic for the uninsured and low-income. We are the only 100% free clinic in Fulton County that provides primary care services to this population,” said Susan Whatley, executive director of the Urban Clinic of Atlanta. “Many of our patients have income, but not enough to be able to afford health care. The cost of living has increased significantly, but many salaries have not increased at the same rate. It’s a matter of survival now,” she said.

A $100,000 GBHCMF grant is helping fund medical care for more than 1,000 patient encounters this fiscal year. Susan Whatley founded the clinic in April 2016 “in response to a pressing need I saw while volunteering at a local food co-op. I never planned to do this – God just opened the doors and I went where He was leading me. I believe He has provided the people and resources necessary to be able to provide care to those in our community who truly need help,” she said.

“We open registration for our new patients every two months. We are taking 100 new patients at that time. We open it at 8:00 in the morning and at 8:15 we have to close it,” said Good Samaritan Development Director Heather Kersey. “The need is incredibly great. Georgia has not expanded Medicaid and, on top of that, we are already in a provider shortage area. So even if people were on Medicaid, they might not have a place to go. So the needs are increasing every day,” she said.

A $100,000 GBHCMF grant supports Good Samaritan’s provision of direct medical care to its growing number of patients. The Urban Clinic and Good Samaritan grants are part of a total of $8,417,791 awarded to 82 clinics and other nonprofit organizations involved in providing convenient health care services, primarily to underserved communities in the state of Georgia This year.

“The need is only growing in Atlanta for help providing health care to our underserved and underinsured population,” said Larry Wynn, executive director of GBHCMF. “We commend these and all other clinical grant recipients in metro Atlanta who are answering the call of Jesus Christ to care for those in need.” Health care is an essential path not only to physical health, but also to receiving and responding to the gospel. We believe that Christ did not come to be served, but to serve, and that is what these clinics and providers are doing for the people of Atlanta and across the state of Georgia,” he said. he declares.