Safety net hospitals are not the only medical facilities that could suffer from Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center's imminent closure. Smaller local clinics are also prepping for an increased patient load, radio station WSB reported Oct. 16.
Mercy Care, a charity clinic in downtown Atlanta, serves 60 to 80 homeless, uninsured and low-income patients on a typical weekday. When the Wellstar facility closes Nov. 1, the clinic expects to see more than 100, a spokesperson told the radio station.
Mercy Care runs on federal and state funding and donations, according to the radio station.
"[The closure is] disappointing. It was definitely a needed resource in the community. There’s not a lot of places for folks to go for an emergency care," the spokesperson said.
"This is going to be a big challenge for the community."
Atlanta Medical Center shuttered its emergency department Oct. 14. The City Council is expected to continue discussing the site's future development at a meeting Oct. 17.