A giant medical corporation has decided to close a hospital that serves over 35,000 people so that they can have a free building for their chemical dependency clinic.

Did they consult with the people they had promised to serve?

Did they consult with the expectant mother who has to be rushed over 40 miles to get to a hospital?

Did they consult with the elderly person in our nursing homes?

Did they consult with our many businesses who need employees and have to recruit them to a community that doesn’t even have a hospital?

Did they consult with any of the community leaders?

Did they consult with the people who contributed to build this new beautiful facility — it was Albert Leans that built this hospital, not Mayo?

I could go on, but the answer will always be no.

They made this decision by never considering the many miles that the citizens of Albert Lea will have to drive to get hospital care.

They never considered the effect it was going to have on our community. They never considered many things.

They only considered what was good for them. They only considered how they would only have to serve one community. They only considered how to have a beautiful chemical dependency center without spending much money. They only considered what was good for them.

Now is our community going to take this action without a flight?

What can you do? What can we do as a community? What will our elected officials do?

It is time to build a plan to get our hospital back to serve the people of Freeborn County.

Alan Arends

Albert Lea