Articles

Nonprofit board good for Grady

Opinion by Andrew Young
For the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Nov. 26, 2007

The mission of Grady Memorial Hospital reflects the call to serve in Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan, found in the Gospel of Luke in the Christian New Testament. In the story, a robbery victim is left beaten and naked on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. After the injured man is ignored by at least two passersby, another traveler, a man from Samaria, stops and binds the victim's wounds. The traveler then delivers the man to an inn, arranges for the proprietor to care for him, and promises to return and pay the expenses. The message, of course, is that each of us is called to help our neighbors in need.

As a community, our support for Grady Hospital is one very tangible expression of our commitment to help our neighbors who have no health care coverage -- those in need who otherwise would be ignored on "the road to Jericho." Faith And The City believes that our capacity as a community to provide such assistance is best facilitated by the creation of a 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating board for Grady. This is one of five options presented by the advisory committee appointed by the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority to identify solutions to the financial crisis. We urge FDHA to adopt that option.

In an Oct. 17 open letter to FDHA Chair Pamela Stephenson, an interfaith coalition of organizations -- Faith And The City, Regional Council of Churches of Atlanta and Faith Alliance of Atlanta -- commended FDHA for its "recent efforts to address the crisis that threatens to close Grady Memorial Hospital, imperil health care for the neediest of our neighbors throughout our regional community and jeopardize essential programs at two of the nation's premier medical training institutions."

The task since has been daunting and the progress commendable. FDHA, its internal and external advisory committees, and other involved parties, including those who have critiqued the process along the way, have worked diligently on behalf of Grady, its patients, and the entire community. We applaud their work.

Yet, when Advisory Committee members met Nov. 15 to deliver a presentation to FDHA, they did not identify a specific recommendation. Instead, they presented careful analyses of five options. However, only one of the five can address Grady's most pressing needs. Those needs are receiving substantial funding immediately and implementing an operational structure for the long term that ensures more insulation from political change and more time to focus on hospital operations and patients.

The option that meets both needs is the creation of a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. This approach promises immediate contributions from Atlanta's philanthropic and business communities -- $200 million now and very likely another $100 million within three years.

It also creates an operational board to be appointed by the existing Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority and the FDHA itself will remain in place. The new operational board will be charged with overseeing day-to-day hospital operations, while the FDHA will continue to serve as guardian of Grady's historic mandate to serve the neediest among us.

Faith and the City encourages metro Atlanta's diverse faith communities to unite in support of the Advisory Committee option that calls for a 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating board for Grady. We also urge the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority to embrace that nonprofit option to ensure the survival of Grady Hospital. We are convinced it is the only choice that will leave no neighbor in need on "the road to Jericho."

Former Atlanta mayor, congressman and United Nations ambassador Andrew Young is co-chair of Faith and the City, established in 1999 to encourage people of all religious traditions to bring a moral dimension to civic dialogue.

Copyright 2007 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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