The same Wellstar health system that shuttered two hospitals last year in Atlanta vows it will not do the same if allowed to merge with Augusta University Health.
Wellstar cited financial losses as the reason for shutting down the campuses in Atlanta, and executives report that the nonprofit will continue to spend large sums on charity care.
But that declaration has left some local officials angry, as well as those communities who depended on those facilities for care.
One East Point health care advocate traveled to Augusta to voice concern at a recent public hearing about the merger.
Atlanta Journal Constitution reporter Ariel Hart was there, and sat down with WABE’s “Morning Edition” to share the reactions in the room.