The Grady South DeKalb Health Center will not close on July 1 as previously announced.

Instead, Grady CEO Michael Young committed Tuesday to do nothing for 60 days while he finds answers to questions from DeKalb Commissioners Larry Johnson and Sharon Barnes Sutton on patient use of the center, the services they get, and where they come from.

Young said he will also figure out how Grady can work with Oakhurst Medical Center, a federally qualified health center, to serve the residents of South DeKalb.

Young backtracked from his original plan to close the center and send South DeKalb patients to its Warren Street Health Center in Atlanta after Johnson said he would divert some of the $23 million that the county is giving to Grady to other sources to ensure that residents in his district get service.

The center, which has been located inside the Kroger Pharmacy on Rainbow Way in Decatur since 1996, is one of three that the ailing safety-net health system has targeted for closure to save money.

“If you hear me clearly,” Johnson told Young, “there has to be a clinic in South DeKalb. Downtown is wonderful; I need to have something locally so that residents in South DeKalb, even if they don’t have transportation, they can walk to.”

The $23 million that the county voted in January to give Grady is disbursed in monthly payments of about $1.4 million. It was an increase over what the county had previously given to Grady.

Johnson, in whose District 3 the center is located, said the county increased the amount on the premise that service would not be cut in DeKalb County.

He said the under-served population in south DeKalb County needs to have access to health care.

“I have to make sure that the folks in this area continue to get the primary care service they deserve and need in these hard times of distress. We have got to find the way to keep these type of facilities open,” he said. “These patients are going to the center because they like the proximity to stay engaged in their health care.”

At the talk of diverting some of the county funds, Young said there is no need for a knee-jerk reaction. He said that people don’t recognize the cash-flow challenges that Grady is having. He said that Grady’s volume is up 11 percent and it is offering $50 million more of free care with no increase in revenue.

“I won’t drastically cut the clinic today, if you won’t drastically cut my funds,” he said. “I would be comfortable to say let’s do nothing for 60 days while we study the issue and talk some more.”

Johnson said the two will meet again in 20 to 25 days.