Healthcare professionals, gym trainers, medicaid providers, and more gathered Wednesday in South Fulton — an area that has been described as a “healthcare desert” — for an event focused on men’s health and wellness.  

South Fulton Mayor Carmalitha Gumbs said the city’s Men’s Health Expo was designed to get men in the community connected to necessary health resources, undergo screenings for issues like high blood pressure and prostate cancer, and to provide them with a safe space.  

“These types of events are important. They’re actually in a space where they’re with other men, and they can talk candidly about things that are impacting them and take advantage of the resources that are here,” Gumbs told Capital B Atlanta. 

A DJ played energetic music at the Welcome All Park & Multipurpose Facility for residents and local officials who congregated in the gymnasium. The expo, held during Men’s Health Month, featured organizations like Grady Health System, the Morehouse School of Medicine, CareSource, and more.  

Keith North, 70, said the expo was “informative” as he believes stigma and fear can keep Black men from getting preventive medical help that could save their lives. 

“I think a lot of men … we think we’re invincible. It’s always, ‘It won’t happen to me,’ so I think that’s something that we mentally are going to have to overcome,” said North, who participated in the screenings at the event. 

Christopher Ervin, director of the Morehouse School of Medicine’s H.E.A.L. Clinic, a student-led, free health clinic, said having MSM present at the expo was especially important due to the healthcare gaps in South Fulton.

“For the South Atlanta metro area, there is such a distinct difference in healthcare and healthcare provision between North Fulton and South Fulton, which you look at I-20 as the line that divides the two,” Ervin said. “This was an issue even before the [Atlanta Medical Center] hospital closures, but with the AMC hospital closures, the issue has exacerbated the difference in healthcare our South community receives versus the North.”

In 2022, Atlanta Medical Center facilities shut down, leaving predominantly Black cities in the southern part of Fulton County in a healthcare desert as residents now had to drive longer distances to reach care. 

Local officials have been working to address these gaps. Earlier this year, Fulton County commissioners greenlit Grady Health System’s plan to build a $900 million hospital in Union City. Part of that plan also includes a new, 24-hour emergency department that just opened this month — a move that Grady officials at the event said is creating more health access in the area.

“We are really excited to be able to open the freestanding emergency department, what we’re calling Grady South, because it was an opportunity for us to meet the needs of the community,” said Felicia Mobley, director of health outcomes at Grady Health System. 

“When the closures occurred, we knew that there was going to be a gap there, and so it was really identifying an opportunity in a place where residents from all of the eight cities that comprise South Fulton would be able to have access to services,” Mobley said. “When you talk about health, and when you talk about being able to have a healthy community, access to health care services is critical.”

The facility includes 16 treatment beds, pediatric care, on-site imaging, laboratory services, and a pharmacy, according to CBS News.

While the full hospital campus isn’t expected to be open until 2031, Gumbs said she’d like for the Fulton County Board of Commissioners to provide more comprehensive health services to residents in the area. 

“We’ve lost lives from people not being able to make it to a local hospital that is in their area. So, we do welcome Grady. Certainly, it’s not in our city, but a lot of our residents will take advantage of it,” Gumbs said. “I’m looking forward to the expansion of it being a full-fledged hospital, but as one of the largest cities in Fulton County, I believe we need more, we need a variety. 

“The county has a lot of money that should be, and they’re responsible for, health and human services, but I think that more can be done. I’m looking forward to them looking at other partners to bring more healthcare resources to the South side.”