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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2017 | D SECTION
YEAR IN REVIEW
MAYO ANNOUNCEMENT, AREA RESPONSE TOPS YEAR IN NEWS By Albert Lea Tribune
Some years it is hard to choose what’s the biggest story of the year. Other years, there’s no question. The Tribune editor, publisher and reporters sat down at the beginning of December to look back through the big stories of the year and narrow that list to the top 10 with nine honorable mentions. This year, there was a major natural disaster, turmoil in Freeborn County leadership, the sentencing in a murder trial and the death of a prominent Albert Lea leader. However, what stuck out to us most at the Tribune was a story that became public in June and is still ongoing today. The announcement by Mayo Clinic Health System to transfer most inpatient services to its Austin campus as well as the ongoing response from the community in the aftermath has brought regional and national publicity once more to our community. In the end, here is how the news of 2017 stacked up:
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Marchers chanted and displayed signs in August as they walked through a portion of downtown Rochester. SAM WILMES/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE
In June, Mayo Clinic Health System announced plans to move most inpatient services over time to its Austin campus. That includes major surgeries requiring hospitalization, overnight hospitalization and intensive care unit stays for illness and injuries, along with childbirth. Emergency room, primary and specialty care, pregnancy care and lab, pharmacy and other services will remain available at both locations, and the inpatient behavioral health unit, also known as the psychiatric services unit, will move to Albert Lea. The hospital system said the changes were necessary as it faces staffing shortages, rising costs and declining reimbursements for its services. More than 700 people attended a tension-filled public meeting later that month in the Albert Lea High School auditorium to find out more about the
planned transition and to voice their frustrations with the decision. Bobbie Gostout, vice president of Mayo Clinic and leader of Mayo Clinic Health System at the time, drew ire from the crowd when she compared traveling 23 miles — the distance between Albert Lea and Austin — for childbirth services to traveling the same distance to buy ice cream. The statement became an initial quote blasted by a group of residents who formed the grassroots Save Our Hospital group, who have a goal to keep a fullservice, acute-care hospital in Albert Lea. As Mayo began moving forward with its plans, the residents began meeting weekly, filling the Albert Lea American Legion every Sunday night, as well as meeting multiple times throughout the week. It brought together residents of all ages, backgrounds and political leanings. They organized protests, both in Albert Lea and Rochester to voice their cause, and raised more than $100,000 — some of it
Mayo Clinic Health System announces consolidation plans for Albert Lea, Austin hospitals; grassroots group of residents to keep a full-service hospital in Albert Lea fight back
going to put up billboards on Interstates 35 and 90 about their cause. They reached out to newspapers, state and federal legislators, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson and Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton to share their stories and ask for help. The effort gained support from Dayton and Lt. Gov. Tina Smith, multiple DFL candidates for governor, as well as the senior advocacy organization AARP. It has been featured in multiple Associated Press articles and in the national political journalism organization Politico. Despite the effort, Mayo officials have said they plan to move forward with their plan — and with no intention to sell the hospital to another provider Meanwhile, the Save Our Hospital group, the city of Albert Lea and Freeborn County paid to have an outside health care consultant conduct a study on whether a fullservice hospital could be profitable in Albert Lea, of which the study found it could be. The entities are reaching
This flagpole at Bob Hanson Park was bent during the March 6 tornado in Clarks Grove. SARAH STULTZ/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE
The panel for a June public forum was made up of, from left, Bobbie Gostout, vice president of Mayo Clinic and leader of Mayo Clinic Health System; Mark Ciota, CEO of Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea and Austin; Chad Adams, Albert Lea city manager; and Chris Shoff, Freeborn County District 4 commissioner. COLLEEN HARRISON/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE out to possible second providers and other options for health care services. While these discussions are taking place, the transition of Mayo services has already begun. The intensive care unit moved to Austin in October, and inpatient
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surgeries are slated to move in January. The behavioral health Earliest tornadoes center is expected to move on record in state touch from Austin to Albert Lea in down south of Wells 2019, and labor and delivery and in Clarks Grove services will be the last to The evening of March 6 relocate to Austin in late 2019 or early 2020. CONTINUED
A house at 105 First Ave. SW in Clarks Grove was badly damaged from downed tree limbs in March after a severe storm came through the area. The storm was later confirmed an EF1 tornado. SARAH STULTZ/ALBERT LEA TRIBUNE