Eastside Hospital 'Severely Overcrowded,' Turning Away Patients

GWINNETT COUNTY, GA — A website that tracks hospital activity to help guide ambulance services reports that as of Wednesday afternoon, two of Gwinnett’s major hospitals are “severely overcrowded,” with one of them turning away ambulances entirely.

The Georgia Coordinating Center’s website lists Piedmont Eastside Medical Center in Snellville as “severely overcrowded” and “unable to accept EMS patients” as of 4:33 p.m. Wednesday. The county’s largest hospital, Northside Hospital Gwinnett in Lawrenceville, also is listed as “severely overcrowded” but able to handle ambulance traffic. Northside Hospital Duluth is listed only as “busy” and able to accept EMS patients.

The Georgia Coordinating Center (GCC) was established in 2019 after flooding at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta severely damaged its emergency room, limiting its ability to accept ambulance traffic. GCC’s website posts capacity information from Georgia hospitals, with the busiest facilities updating their status regularly.

Almost all major hospitals in the metro Atlanta area are reporting turning some or all patients away, with most of them reported to be “severely overcrowded.”

Much of the overcrowding is due to the more-contagious delta variant of COVID-19 sickening unvaccinated Georgians. Dr. Robert Jansen, Grady’s chief medical officer, told WSB-TV on Tuesday that the hospital is averaging nearly 100 new cases a day. Most of those needing to be admitted, Jansen said, were unvaccinated.

“We’re now in our fourth wave,” Jansen said to reporter Carol Sbarge. “It’s kind of depressing to say that.”

For a list of Georgia hospitals and their capacity to accept new or emergency patients, visit the Georgia Coordinating Center’s website.

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