Ms. Stueven recently wrote a letter to the editor reflecting Mayo Clinic talking points. She talked about the community having a vote on the costs of bringing in MercyOne. She is apparently not aware of the Mayo promise that there would be a local committee on which a super majority vote would be required before any service could be removed from our hospital. This was a position offered by Mayo representatives during our initial negotiations back in the 1990s.

The Albert Lea community gave Mayo our equity in a nearly new hospital and two clinics housing more than 30 doctors, all of whom lived in Albert Lea. Furthermore, we raised several million dollars to help Mayo build a new clinic.

Ms. Stueven closes her letter with the statement “I hope people take a look at the bigger picture so they can make informed decisions on their health care.” This is exactly what SOH (Save Our Healthcare) has been doing during the past 2 1/2 years.

Here is a bit of history as I remember it.

About 1990, Mayo decided to expand their network of hospitals and clinics in a radius of 100 miles or so from Rochester. That effort included Albert Lea, our hospital and clinics employing more than 30 doctors who lived and practiced in our city. Key to the Mayo position was the assurance that they would increase services offered in our hospital and a local committee would require a super majority to approve transfer of major medical services out of Albert Lea.

Two and a half years ago we learned Mayo decided to abandon those assurances and transfer critical care, surgery and baby birthing out of our hospital to Austin 20 miles away. That decision was made without any discussion with local leaders before their announcement. In the past 2 1/2 years, top officials of Mayo have refused all efforts of community leaders to discuss possible compromise. After being repeatedly rebuffed, SOH decided the health care of 55,000 men, women and children living in Albert Lea as well as areas west, north and south of Albert Lea could not be left to health bureaucrats who showed such indifference to our community.

SOH is not anti-Mayo. We recognize their outstanding medical capability. We do feel that as a community we deserve to have something to say about the level of medical care in our community. A full range of care is essential to keep our city an attractive place for people of all ages to live and work.

The partnership with MercyOne promises to put our community back in as a participant in decisions regarding the level of health care available to our citizens.

In summary, we are not anti-Mayo Clinic. We are determined to be included in vital decisions made about health care in Albert Lea. We sought that with Mayo Clinic, but were rejected at every turn. We feel as a community we cannot leave such vital decisions in the hands of bureaucrats who know nothing about our community. We wish no ill to Mayo Clinic, we simply insist on having a say in decisions that affect the future of Albert Lea citizens.

Paul Overgaard

Albert Lea