What's so important about Grady? Medical experts say the 115-year-old hospital offers a range of services not duplicated elsewherein Atlanta.

Rich Addicks/Staff (ENLARGE)

Bill Holt, 51, with third-degree burns on his legs, is helped into his bed by nurses in Grady's burn unit, one of only two in Georgia.

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TRAUMA

When a major tragedy happens in Atlanta — from the 1996 bombing at Centennial Olympic Park to the Bluffton University baseball team's deadly bus wreck in March — Grady Memorial Hospital's medical team is usually on the front line.

On an average day, Grady's trauma unit treats about 10 severely injured patients — about 3,700 a year.

Grady is one of only four Level One trauma centers in Georgia, a designation that signifies 24-hour-a-day coverage by a range of medical specialties. The others are in Macon, Augusta and Savannah.

"Grady sees literally twice the volume of trauma we do in a year," said Vernon Henderson, the surgeon who heads trauma at Atlanta Medical Center, which has a Level Two trauma center. "Grady is the standard-bearer for trauma in Georgia."

AMBULANCE

If workers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are exposed to a biohazard, specially trained Grady paramedics will transport them. Grady's is the only such team in the country outside the U.S. Army and is training medical transport teams from other cities.

As for day-to-day operations, Grady ambulances make more than 90,000 trips a year, transporting more than 66,000 patients.

INFECTIOUS DISEASE

Last year, clinicians from six countries visited Grady's infectious disease center, which is recognized internationally for HIV care. Patients with tuberculosis and increasingly with tropical diseases also are cared for there.

Besides treating 4,700 outpatients last year, infectious disease doctors were consulted on more than 1,000 additional inpatient cases.

The infectious disease clinics also dispensed more than $33 million worth of medication for the Georgia AIDS Drug Assistance Program.

MEDICAL EDUCATION

Earlier this year, Emory University neurosurgery resident Luis Tumialan allowed a television crew to film his life for a CNN documentary called "Grady's Anatomy."

Tumialan is passionate about Grady. "We take enormous pride in what we do here," he said.

About 900 of Emory University School of Medicine's 1,000 medical residents and almost all of Morehouse School of Medicine's 100 residents train at Grady. Emory and Morehouse faculty serve as Grady's attending physicians.

As many as half of the medical residents who come from out of state to train at Grady stay in Georgia, said Dr. Thomas Lawley, dean of Emory's medical school.

MENTAL HEALTH

Schizophrenia, depression, addiction — more than 1,000 patients a year are admitted to Grady's famed 13th floor with those and other mental health problems.

Some come through the health system's emergency psychiatric service, one of the busiest in the country with more than 17,000 annual visits. Altogether, patients see Grady psychiatric staff members more than 77,500 times a year.

With state mental hospitals already crowded, hospital officials say, many patients would be on the streets unmedicated without Grady.

NEONATAL SPECIAL CARE

Some are tucked under blankets decorated with teddy bears and bunnies. Some are invisible in isolettes that keep them in the dark, as if they were still in the womb.

The babies in the neonatal special care units at Grady are among the state's most fragile infants and are often born to indigent mothers. Some are delivered as much as three months premature, weighing less than 2 pounds. They will stay here for weeks or months until their organs develop more fully and they reach a weight more normal for birth.

On an average day, the Grady staff cares for 30 infants. Last year, about 600 were born or brought here from 55 counties across North Georgia.

POISON CONTROL

If a panicked mother in Hahira or a doctor in Valdosta calls the state poison hotline, Grady answers.

Grady operates the Georgia Poison Center, with funding provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Georgia Department of Human Resources.

The center, whose phones are staffed by doctors, nurses and pharmacists, answers about 200,000 calls a year — 800 a month from animal owners whose pets have just eaten something suspect.

SICKLE CELL DISEASE

With more than 1,000 patients, Grady is home to the world's largest center for adults with sickle cell disease, the most common genetic blood disorder in the United States. The Georgia Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center at Grady also has the only around-the-clock emergency department just for adults who develop acute complications from sickle cell disease.

The combined approach allows Grady doctors to do research on sickle cell disease.

"We're heavily involved in national trials to improve treatment and avoid complications," said the center's medical director, Dr. James Eckman.

BURNS

An average of one severely injured patient a day is admitted to Grady's 23-bed, specially equipped burn unit, the larger of only two such units in the state.

Many patients end up hospitalized for weeks because of severe pain and high risks of infection, scarring and complications. Grady physicians see outpatients for burn care about 2,000 times a year.

Georgia-Pacific executive Eric Armstrong was lighting a water heater at an Oklahoma vacation home two years ago when a propane leak caused a flash fire that burned him and his wife. Georgia-Pacific flew them back to Grady.

"My husband and I both talked about what great care we got," said Barbara Armstrong. Today, she's a volunteer in the burn unit.