We hope you’ll be healthy and happy during your stay in Atlanta. But if you happen to get sick or injured, we can help take care of you. As a regional center for health care and research, the Atlanta area offers high-quality health care and enviable accessibility.
The Atlanta metropolitan area boasts a wealth of top-notch doctors and medical facilities, which says a lot about the desirability of the Atlanta area as a place to live. It also reflects the steady stream of new doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals graduating from the many training centers in the metro and surrounding areas.
Local medical students train at Emory University’s School of Medicine and Morehouse School of Medicine, while future pharmacists study at Mercer University’s Southern School of Pharmacy. Nursing programs are offered at Clayton State College and University, DeKalb College, Emory University, Georgia State University, Kennesaw State University, Morris Brown College, and Oglethorpe University. The Medical College of Georgia Schools of Medicine and Nursing in Augusta and the Mercer College of Medicine in Macon are within a three-hour driving distance of the city.
Because Atlanta is a national center in medical research, residents have the opportunity to participate in many clinical research trials that evaluate new treatments.
Numerous major medical organizations have headquarters in Atlanta. Foremost in this category is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an agency of the U.S. Public Health Service. A major research facility with programs taking place in the Atlanta headquarters and field stations, health departments, and other facilities throughout the world, CDC is an institution dedicated to promoting health and quality of life by preventing and controlling disease, injury, and disability.
The American Cancer Society’s national headquarters coordinates and supports the state and county divisions of this, the largest voluntary health agency in the world. Although no research takes place at this office, the staff administers and supports the society’s national research programs taking place at various venues throughout the country.
The Arthritis Foundation’s national headquarters coordinates research and offers nationwide community-based services including self-help courses, exercise classes, support groups, and instructional videotapes. The foundation provides educational brochures and booklets for the public and publishes a national bimonthly consumer magazine, Arthritis Today.
Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center at Emory University is the oldest scientific institute dedicated to primate research. Yerkes Main Station facility specializes in biomedical research; the 117-acre Field Station studies primate social groups.
Georgia Institute of Technology Research Institute is one of the country’s premier bioengineering programs producing advances in prosthetics and engineered assistance for the disabled. Tech’s Medical Informatic Research Group, part of Georgia Tech’s Graphics, Visualization, and Usability Center, is exploring ways in which computer science methods and techniques can help solve problems in medicine and biomedicine.
The Carter Center, a separately chartered, independently governed part of Emory University, counts Global 2000 among its many other programs and initiatives. Global 2000 is a coalition of governments, corporations, individuals, and organizations that addresses global environmental, agricultural, economic, and public health concerns. Among its other accomplishments, Global 2000 has been instrumental in helping to eradicate Guinea worm disease and in building a modern center for the design and manufacture of artificial limbs in China. The Task Force for Child Survival and Development, headquartered at the Carter Center, addresses issues of immunization, malnutrition, disease control, and child advocacy.
Since there are 50 or so medical facilities of varying sizes within the four-county area we focus on, and dozens more within close range, we can’t do justice to their multispecialty programs in one chapter. We are, instead, providing an overview. Consider our thumbnail sketches the tip of the iceberg, and know that whatever your medical or mental health need, skilled and dedicated health care professionals in the Atlanta area are ready to serve you.
The major HMOs also have facilities throughout the metro Atlanta area in ever increasing numbers: You’ll find their main numbers listed in this chapter so that you may call to locate offices and/or affiliated physicians close by.
The metropolitan Atlanta area has a number of strategically located trauma centers. A rating of Level I trauma care indicates the hospital offers the most extensive, immediate, and round-the-clock services for emergency, life-threatening needs. A Level II rating indicates 24-hour capability for surgery and specialty care. A Level III rating means these services, surgery and specialty care, are usually available within 30 minutes to an hour.
We present hospitals within the perimeter of I-285 as being in the City of Atlanta and list those outside the Perimeter by county.