Friday, September 11, 2009

Show Emory University Hospital They Are Wrong to Block Gwinnett Medical’s Open Heart Program

This Monday, September 14th, in the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Building (GJAC) auditorium, at 10:00 AM, Senator David Shafer and Rep. Clay Cox have called for a joint Gwinnett Legislative Delegation meeting to hear comments from involved parties in the current legal battle relating to the Certificate of Need for Open Heart services at the Gwinnett Medical Center. We need a strong showing of Chamber members at this meeting willing to speak out for Open Heart surgery in Gwinnett.

As many of you know, the Georgia Department of Community Service granted this certificate which would have allowed the hospital the authorization to build a practice in concert with St. Josephs to perform open heart surgery at GMC. At this point of the process only Emory Hospital has filed a petition to legally stop this process and the decision will come from a Fulton County judge likely in early January. Originally Piedmont Hospital filed a petition to protest this decision as well, but earlier this week they officially withdrew this filing and are no longer involved.

Emory is basing their argument in that there is not enough "need" in Gwinnett County to have an open heart hospital. The purpose of this delegation meeting is to draw attention to the absurdity of this argument and to draw visibility to the overall process for this CON. Representatives from Emory, Piedmont and the Gwinnett Medical Center have been invited to participate. The delegation would like a strong showing of support from members of the business community and all Gwinnett residents who are supportive of this CON to attend the meeting. We expect there to be a media presence.

Please join us Monday, September 14 at 10 am at GJAC for this critical issue.

Jim Maran
Gwinnett Chamber President & CEO

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