How to Act to Stop the Cuts at Grady

Bert Skellie of the Grady Coalition has sent this information on how to take action to stop the cuts:

"Please call or write CEO Young & Chair Pete Correll to urge them not to cut patients with incomes up to 250% of poverty from the rolls of Grady free care.

. . .

We plan to provide more details later on who else to contact & other addresses, but meanwhile you can call CEO Young's office at Grady at 404-616-4252 , and you can also leave a message for Pete Correll, Chair of Grady Board at the same number. Also, you can send a letter to either or both of them c/o Grady Health System, 80 Jesse Hill Jr. Drive, SE, Atlanta, GA 30303. You can also send an email to CEO Young at myoung@gmh.edu.

Here's the text of an email I have just sent over. Please send your own letter or email by adding your own personal information at the beginning & putting in your own words concerns you have about the 250 – 125 cut.

'Greetings Mr. Young,

I am writing to urge you not to remove patients with incomes of up to 250% of poverty from the rolls of free care at Grady. As a resident of DeKalb County for most of my life, I appreciate Grady's crucial role as the safety net hospital for our area. I have had experience with Grady's good care of my son after an accident several years ago, and I have many friends who depend on Grady for their lives.

Thank you for referring the Grady Coalition to Mr. Ayers, who gave some of us a presentation on the proposal to change financial requirements for Grady patients.

I'm writing to urge you not to lower the free care income limits for Fulton and DeKalb patients from 250% to 125% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. I am concerned that most savings, if any, from this change, will come at the expense of the health and lives of patients who will be affected. Since many patients will understand that they must pay to get service, I believe thousands below this level of income ($26,000 for a single individual) will suffer, and some will die rather than seek the primary care they need.

Please do not make this dangerous change.'

Thanks for your help. Please circulate this email widely. A vote on this proposal is likely to be made at the January 5, 2009, Grady Corporation Board meeting."

How to Get Involved in the Grady Coalition

To get involved in the Grady Coalition (discussed in the post from yesterday), contact Bert Skellie at bertskellie@gmail.com or 404.378.5883.

Press Conference to oppose Cuts at Privatized Grady Hospital

The Grady Coalition held a press conference in front of Grady Hospital today to protest proposed cuts in service. As many of the speakers stated, if the cuts go through, "PEOPLE WILL DIE."

A statement from the Grady Coalition is below. And following that are two of the 19 video clips from the Press Conference. To view all of them, go to www.youtube.com/GRUSvideos.

And stay tuned to Georgia Rural Urban Summit to find out how to get involved in STOPPING THESE CUTS.

"We have been informed by Michael Ayers, Grady CFO, that he plans to bring to the new Grady Board [the Grady Memorial Hospital Corporation] on January 5 a proposal to stop providing free care to large numbers of Grady paients [sic]. At present, Grady provides free care to patients with income up to 250% of the federal poverty guidlines [sic] (fpg), or up to $26,000 annually for a single person. Under the proposed rule, Grady will provide free care only to those earning under 125% of fpg, or $13,000 for a single person. Patients in Fulton & DeKalb from 126% - 250% will be required to pay 40% of the cost of services. Mr. Ayers did not tell us how many patients will be affected, but we believe it will be in the thousands."

Atlanta Activists in Usher Video!

A certain GRUS blogger did City Year many, many years ago, and saw on City Year's Facebook page that Usher was wearing a City Year jacket in his new video.

So I watched the video and saw that one of the very first shots is of Stand For Peace, the weekly anti-Iraq War vigil* that's been going on at Colony Square in Atlanta since the lead-up to the war, and the people in that shot are Veteran for Peace Bob Goodman(on the right) and Brian S. Sherman of WRFG 89.3 FM (on the left). And then Bob Goodman gets a close-up. Peace activists as rock stars!



*Major players in Stand for Peace are WAND Atlanta, Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition, Grandmothers for Peace, Veterans for Peace, International Action Center, and Georgia Rural Urban Summit. (If we've missed someone, let us know.)