DeKalb Medical

For nearly 30 years, DeKalb Medical Center has been committed to bringing much-needed healthcare services to the south DeKalb community. Since 1970 when DeKalb County voters first approved a $1.95 million bond referendum to help fund a south DeKalb hospital, DeKalb Medical Center has devoted substantial time and resources to making a hospital there – more... a reality.

In October 1974, a four-phase concept was developed and approved for bringing medical services to south DeKalb. The four phases included an outpatient diagnostic center/medical office building; expanded outpatient services and additional medical office space; an inpatient facility; and a continuing care retirement facility. Two years later, in 1976, DeKalb Medical Center acquired the Hillandale property. For the next 10 years, DeKalb Medical Center kept alive its plans - and the community's dreams - for a hospital in south DeKalb. Despite round after round of legal opinions, position papers, feasibility studies and moratoriums questioning the need for new hospital beds not only in the Atlanta area but the entire state of Georgia, DeKalb Medical Center never lost sight of the community's need for a hospital to call its own.

At the community's urging, DeKalb Medical Center submitted in March 1986 a certificate-of-need (CON) application to the state for a 100-bed hospital called South DeKalb Hospital to be located at 5900 Hillandale Drive. Hospital officials thought the CON's novel approach might have a chance of winning approval because it did not seek to add any new hospital beds. Rather, it sought to transfer 100 beds from DeKalb General Hospital, as DeKalb Medical Center was called then, to the proposed South DeKalb Hospital. In the meantime, the hospital also opened its first urgent care center, FamilyCare-South DeKalb, in July 1986 at 6038 Covington Highway.

DeKalb Medical Center's plans for the South DeKalb Hospital were put on hold following the state's denial of the CON in August 1986. According to the state, the area did not meet the state's criteria for building a new hospital, namely due to the availability and accessibility of current beds and the cost. While plans were temporarily stalled, they weren't abandoned. DeKalb Medical Center regrouped and moved forward with Phase I of our four-tiered approach to building a medical campus on Hillandale Drive. The hospital also established the South DeKalb Advisory Committee, which consists of well-known and respected community residents and leaders, to advocate the community's needs in the planning process. The group's first meeting was held in July 1994.

DeKalb Medical Center has long been the dominant provider of healthcare services in south DeKalb County. In addition to the FamilyCare Center on Covington Highway and the outpatient diagnostic/treatment center and physician office building on the Hillandale campus, many of the physicians on DeKalb Medical Center's medical staff practice in the south DeKalb community. Over the years, DeKalb Medical Center has worked hard to earn the trust and support of the south DeKalb community, and it now has the infrastructure in place to support a south DeKalb hospital. – less – More from ZoomInfo »

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