Anyone can help us — please support our cause. We in Albert Lea and surrounding areas are in jeopardy of losing our intensive care, Baby Place and in-service hospital. The main Mayo has decided to restructure these areas of our health care and send it to Austin (23 miles away). What used to be an honor to have the Mayo title in our health system has become our nightmare.

We are approximately 18,000 people, and our hospital serves all of the rural areas and small towns around here. Our city was chosen to become a Blue Zone city and has developed walking trails and a healthy lifestyle example. We have a beautiful city and lake to be proud of; however, young people will not be interested in staying or moving into our area, well-to-do people will move elsewhere and businesses will fail. You have to have a  thriving economy to survive. 

Please reach out to anyone you can think of to help. We are setting an example for national rural hospitals. Please support our cause. Reach out to our elected leaders for help, and write to Dr. John Noseworthy, CEO, Mayo Clinic, 200 First St. SW, Rochester, MN 55905. Tell them how this will affect you, and ask them to respond to your messages. We are a canary in the coal mine for hospitals in small rural cities nationwide. Please support our cause!

Merilynn (Mimi) Linde

Albert Lea