ATLANTA — Help is on the way for Grady Memorial Hospital in downtown Atlanta. A burst pipe last weekend forced the Level One trauma center to divert patients to other area hospitals.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has declared a state of emergency for the facility, clearing the way for state and federal dollars to assist in repairs to the downtown Atlanta medical center.
"This declaration is absolutely critical to the thousands of patients we treat each day and to the hospitals that voluntarily stretched their own capacity limits this past week in order to care for patients who were temporarily displaced," said hospital CEO John Haupert.
The resources at the hospital are considered absolutely critical to patient care.
On an average day, Grady's Emergency Services Department sees more than 450 patients in its Emergency Services Department, alone.
However, it is not just Grady that has felt the strain over the past week.
Since the pipe burst, Grady has only been able to take in about half of the number of Emergency patients that it ordinarily does.
The governor's declaration will help ease the strain on other nearby hospitals which have taken up some of the slack due to the problems at Grady.
The state of emergency will help expedite resources and money -- and includes bringing in a 30-bed mobile hospital from North Carolina. Officials say repairs at the hospital could take up to three months.
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