Learn all about one of our country’s greatest people at the Martin Luther
King Jr. National Historic Site. Photo courtesy of the Georgia
Department of Economic Development.

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More than 1,000 people make a move to the greater Atlanta area every day, according to the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau (ACVB). They come in cars packed with suitcases and high expectations or break through the clouds and descend to the runways of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the world. They come to work and they come to play, drawn by top-notch educational opportunities, a consistent record of regional job growth, and the beauty of the dogwoods in bloom.

Atlanta is home to about 3,700 manufacturers and more than 750 Fortune 1,000 companies, including Coca-Cola, Cable News Network (CNN), and United Parcel Service. At the other end of the commercial spectrum, Atlanta ranks as the “‘Nation’s Best Big City for Entrepreneurs,”‘ according to Inc. magazine. Atlanta by the numbers is pretty impressive — there are 951 shopping centers, 57 public golf courses, 54 public parks, and 100 streets with the name Peachtree.

It all adds up to a robust economy and rewarding lifestyle for the more than 4 million residents of the ninth-largest metropolitan area in the country.

On duty

The 20-county metro Atlanta area is home to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Cancer Society, and the Arthritis Foundation. The city is also home to approximately 60 hospitals, more than 18,000 physicians, and many more emergency and neighborhood clinics.

St. Joseph’s Hospital of Atlanta, the only area hospital to earn the prestigious Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, is respected as a leader in cardiology care. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta ranks sixth among America’s top pediatric hospitals, according to Child magazine. The Shepherd Center, the country’s largest catastrophic care hospital, which specializes in the treatment of people who have spinal cord injury and disease, acquired brain injury, multiple sclerosis, and other neuromuscular disorders and neurological problems, ranks 16th in the nation in rehabilitation, according to U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Hospitals list.

Emory University Hospital, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, has consistently done well in the U.S. News & World Report rankings. For the 14th time since the magazine’s Best Hospital’s rankings debuted in 1990, Emory earned a top-10 ranking in the heart and heart surgery category. Emory’s programs in ophthalmology (17th), psychiatry (18th), kidney disease (21st), geriatrics (27th), urology (40th), and gynecology (40th) also earned high marks in the magazine’s annual rankings.

And don’t forget about all the great opportunities at facilities in nearby communities. After all, the University of Georgia is in nearby Athens. Northeast Georgia Health System is in Gainesville, Southern Regional Health System is in Riverdale, Gwinnett Medical Center is in Lawrenceville, and a host of other medical facilities are just a short drive away from the big city.

When surveying the health care scene in Atlanta, not all the numbers are worth bragging about, however. The state capital is at the heart of what some see as Georgia’s nursing crisis. The federal Health Resources and Services Administration projects that by 2020, the state will have one of the largest nursing shortages in the nation, with a gap between supply and demand of more than 30,000 full-time equivalent positions.

Get some culture at Atlanta Ballet, which has been entertaining audiences
for more than 65 years. Photo courtesy of the Georgia Department
of Economic Development.

According to the most recent figures available from the Georgia Hospital Association (GHA), the state’s RN vacancy rate in 2001 was 13.3%. In Atlanta, the rate was 14.9%. Higher rates applied in specialty practice areas, such as general med/surg, pediatric, adult critical care, ED, and OR. The GHA is in the process of updating the figures based on 2004 data, but Karen Waters, GHA vice president, professional services, doesn’t hesitate to report that although there is still a significant need for specialty nurses in Georgia, “The vacancy rate is not as high.”

Waters says the improvement reflects the impact of various efforts aimed at attracting and retaining qualified nurses. She says hospitals are trying to be flexible by adding more staffing options for nurses. For example, some hospitals have implemented job sharing in order to cover weekend shifts, Waters says. Others offer self-scheduling, high-volume bonuses, and PRN pools. Waters says many hospitals also offer tuition support for advanced training. “A lot of them are working toward Magnet status,” she adds.

Emory University Hospital introduced an innovative reentry program for inactive or retired nurses to combat the shortage. The eight-week program includes supervised clinical training and classroom studies for nurses who have been away from the clinical arena for more than four years. Participants earn full-time pay and benefits; in exchange, each nurse agrees to work for the hospital for one to two years.

The state has been actively pursuing a range of strategies to ease the crisis, as well. “Georgia has taken a state-wide multiorganizational approach to solving this shortage of health care professionals,” the Georgia Nurses Association (GNA) reports on its website, referring to the Health Care Workforce Policy Advisory Committee of the Georgia Department of Community Health, which was established in 2001. “The committee is charged with monitoring and addressing the supply, mix, distribution, and practice aspects of nursing, allied health, and behavioral health professionals,” the GNA explains. “Efforts to address the shortage have been focused on getting the message out through various media opportunities, developing recruitment materials, and increasing scholarships and service-cancelable loans.”

Off duty

Atlanta definitely has the potential to keep nurses busy — on the job and off. Diversity is the city’s stock-in-trade. From the Margaret Mitchell House and Museum to the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site and from the sports fields to the performance halls, Atlanta’s many entertaining and enriching activities reflect the city’s vibrant history, boundless energy, and positive outlook.

In 1837, however, ---Atlanta was the end of the line — literally. As the ACVB reports, “Atlanta began taking substantive shape in 1837 when the Western & Atlantic Railroad selected the site as the southern end of its tracks.” From its humble beginnings, Atlanta developed into a major railroad hub. By the time war broke out between the states, it was a thriving manufacturing center and supply depot. At the end of the Civil War, however, “Atlanta lay in ruins,” the ACVB describes, “the only major American city ever destroyed by war.”

The destruction was devastating; Union forces had burned all of Atlanta’s railroad facilities and destroyed almost every business and more than two-thirds of the homes. But the city wouldn’t stay down long. According to AAA, “Reduced to a smoking ruin by Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s occupation in 1864, the city drew upon its unconquerable spirit and the wise use of carpetbagger money to again become a booming commercial center.”

That spirit has not flagged and, from the day in 1886 when a local drug store began selling a new headache and hangover tonic invented by John S. Pemberton called Coca-Cola, to the day in 1980 when Ted Turner’s Atlanta-based CNN went on the air, the city’s economic engine has continued to hum.

In the 1960s, economic growth and social reform moved hand-in-hand through the streets of Atlanta. In association with the Forward Atlanta Campaign, 240,000 new jobs were created and 247 office buildings, 31 office parks, seven regional shopping centers, and 353 warehouses were built while Atlanta became known as the “City Too Busy to Hate.”

Have a rolling good time at Six Flags over Georgia.
Photo courtesy of the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

The city continues to maintain an energetic pace. Today, Atlanta boasts more shopping center space per capita than any other U.S. city except Chicago and claims to have the oldest continually operating ballet company in the nation (the Atlanta Ballet has been entertaining audiences since 1929). Visitors and residents alike enjoy the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum; Stone Mountain Park; the Atlanta Botanical Garden; and the 10 different roller coasters running at Six Flags over Georgia, which is just 12 miles west of the city.

The 4,100-acre Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area extends into northwest Atlanta and offers canoeing, rafting, kayaking, and hiking along a scenic 48-mile stretch of the river. The Atlanta Jazz Festival, an annual celebration of great music and good times, has won widespread acclaim. The nine-day festival, highlighted by the free Weekend Concert Series at Piedmont Park, features more than 100 performers.

In the 1990s, the city’s sophisticated style and traditional sense of hospitality combined with the excitement of the 1996 Olympic games to win the hearts and minds of a worldwide audience. The unbridled optimism of the city’s Olympic organizers was nothing new for Atlanta, however. In 1965, Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium was built, even though the city had no major league sports teams at the time. It didn’t take long for the city’s optimism to be rewarded. Within a year, the Braves moved their baseball operations from Milwaukee to Atlanta and the National Football League awarded the city an expansion team, the Falcons.

Although that irrepressibly positive attitude has become a key element of the city’s character, Atlanta remains a Southern city at heart. That means no matter how busy the day may get, there is always time to sit back and sip a glass of sweet tea while you ponder the city’s many intriguing possibilities.