Urban Atlanta nonprofit clinics filling medical gap from hospital closure

ATLANTA, Ga.  — Nonprofit health care clinics in Atlanta are experiencing the weight of demand triggered in part by the late 2022 closure of Atlanta Medical Center. Several clinics inside the city limits are using Georgia Baptist Health Care Ministry Foundation (GBHCMF) grants to provide hands-on health care to those in need.

About one of every three residents in Atlanta zip code 30315 lives at or below the poverty level, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. About 45% of people there under 18 years of age live in poverty. Many more individuals under 65 have no health insurance or find challenges paying for routine health care, with inflation increasingly challenging survivability.

Georgia Baptist Health Care Ministry (GBHCMF) grant recipient The Urban Clinic of Atlanta, located in 30315 near Atlanta’s boundary with East Point, daily meets the needs of underinsured and non-insured people with free primary medical care services.

“We are a free clinic for people who are uninsured and who are low-income. We are the only 100% free clinic in Fulton County that provides primary care services to this population,” said Urban Clinic of Atlanta Executive Director Susan Whatley. “A lot of our patients have income, but not enough to afford healthcare. The cost of living has increased greatly, but a lot of salaries have not increased at the same rate. It’s a survival issue now,” she said.

A $100,000 GBHCMF grant helps 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 had never planned to do it - God just opened the doors and I went where He led.  I believe He provided the people and resources to be able to provide care for those in our community who really need help,” she said.

On Atlanta’s West Side in zip code 30318, about one in four residents is at or below the poverty level. There, Good Samaritan Health Care Center provides free or reduced medical, pre-natal, dental and mental health services to thousands of residents, even drawing patients from 35 counties across Georgia.

“We open our new patient registration every other month. We take 100 new patients at that time. We open it at 8:00 in the morning, and by 8:15, we have to shut it down,” said Good Samaritan Chief Development Officer Heather Kersey. “The need is incredibly great. Georgia did not expand Medicaid, and on top of that we are already in a provider shortage area. So even if people had Medicaid, they may not have places to go. So, the need grows every day,” she said.

A $100,000 GBHCMF grant supports Good Samaritan’s direct medical care provision to its growing patient rolls. Both the Urban Clinic and Good Samaritan grants are part of the overall $8,417,791 awarded to 82 clinics and other nonprofits involved in providing hands-on health care services primarily to underserved communities across the state of Georgia this year.

“The needs only continue to grow in Atlanta for help in providing health care to our underserved and under-insured population,” said GBHCMF Executive Director Larry Wynn. “We applaud these and all the other metro Atlanta clinic grant recipients who are fulfilling the call of Jesus Christ to care for those in need. Health care is a critical path to not only physical health but also to receiving and responding to the Gospel. We believe Christ came not so be served, but to serve, and that’s what these clinics and providers do for people in Atlanta and all across the state of Georgia,” he said.