Elbert (Ga.) Memorial Hospital has asked for a $250,000 contribution from the Elbert County Board of Commissioners to sustain the facility’s operations, including a matched contribution request from the City of Elberton, according to a Sept. 10 Facebook post from the hospital.
The 25-bed critical access hospital said it has not received county financial support through tax dollars since 2019.
“Like many rural hospitals, EMH faces significant financial pressures, including low patient volumes, reimbursement challenges, uncompensated care, staffing requirements, and the substantial fixed costs of maintaining 24-hour emergency services for our community,” the post said.
Elberton Mayor Daniel Graves, who has worked with the hospital in some capacity for the last 18 years, told Becker’s that Elbert Memorial has 242 employees and accounts for more than $11 million in payroll, making it a large economic and care driver for the community.
Mr. Graves said this is a “particularly emotional and sensitive battle” in addressing greater macro-economic issues at a local level.
“Personally, I see a path forward where we can justifiably plug that hole,” he said. “I feel like there’s a rational plan. We as a community have to decide whether or not we want to preserve this asset. I, most certainly, fall into the camp that feels like we need to do this.”
He said closing the hospital would also be unfair to local emergency services, with the city seeing 7,000-plus emergency room visits annually.
“It’s going to create a tremendous burden upon them, and that’s going to translate to more money needing to be spent, and probably more money than it would take to even keep the hospital going,” he said.
Becker’s has reached out to Elbert County officials for comment and will update this story should more information become available.
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