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124 ˜ A Work of Hospitality, 1982–2002
DeKalb Commission has directed arrests of thirty-seven advocates, but it still
has refused to put the hospital’s $1.1 million request on the agenda.
We are continuing this struggle on several fronts. We will knock on De-
Kalb’s door until it opens and until this additional funding (small change in a
county budget) is allocated. In the meantime, we are appealing to Governor Roy
Barnes to get involved, and to make state resources available that would move
toward long-term resolution of support for this regional and state resource. We
understand that this proposal must include discussion and action on behalf of
public hospitals across Georgia.
We are also looking toward public dialogue about the responsibility of private
institutions for Grady’s long-term health. Emory University made its international
reputation as a medical school and as a research center at Grady Hospital.
The medical school has been a major source of Emory’s growing wealth
and power. At $6 billion, Emory’s endowment is the fastest-growing among the
nation’s private universities. It is time to share the wealth and to endow Grady’s
future as a resource for health care for the poor and as the excellent teaching context
it continues to be.
Other private sources that must be called to accountability are the many
for-profit hospitals in the Atlanta area that sometimes send their patients to
Grady when insurance monies have run out. We understand that some cities
and regions levy a tax on for-profit hospitals to help support public hospitals.
Drug companies and insurance companies must be called to account for their
massive profits and for pricing based on market feasibility rather than their own
costs. Finally, Morehouse Medical School and other smaller teaching institutions
and programs must be called into the discussions to explore shared responsibility
for this precious community resource.
As all the local partners are called to account, we must be seeking new ways
to advocate together in Washington. The Balanced Budget Act will bring deeper
cuts in coming years. We must stop the damage and move toward a national
health insurance plan.
On May 11, thirty members of our activist coalition were arrested for praying
and singing when the DeKalb Commission again refused to discuss Grady.
It was, without a doubt, the largest and most diverse group arrested for an act
of civil disobedience in Atlanta since the 1960s. We were clergy and layfolks;
Christians, Jews, and Buddhists; women and men; gay and straight; Black,
white, and Asian; students and retirees (the oldest were seventy-nine and eightyone!);
medical professionals in white uniform; and members of organized labor
taking the day off. While we were loaded onto the police bus and taken to jail,
two hundred or more supporters sang and prayed. Then they moved the vigil to
DeKalb County Jail. When Rev. Stalmacher, a local pastor, heard about the ac-