Mayo is flaunting its success reflected in Becker’s Healthcare report in having two of the eight Minnesota hospitals that recently received five-star (top) ratings from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. One of these is Mayo Clinic Health System-Albert Lea.

Instead of rewarding Albert Lea’s hospital’s efforts in achieving this distinction, Mayo has removed ICU services from Albert Lea to Austin without any prior discussion. Mayo’s future plan is to remove inpatient surgery, med/surge and the Baby Place. We are sad to see that Mayo has no regard for us and leaves us vulnerable without a full-service, acute-care hospital in Albert Lea.

So, for those in other areas who wish for the honor of having Mayo to be your local hospital, be wary, they are great at what they are known for (I doctor there for specialist services), but they do not belong in rural health care. I feel so bad for the Mayo legacy as this is not what the Mayo brothers intended.

I think of a quote from Warren Buffett, “It takes at least 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” I hope that Mayo will once again honor its value that “the best interest of the patient is the only interest to be considered” before it’s too late to salvage its reputation.

To learn more about the Save Our Hospital efforts in Albert Lea, send an email with your name in the subject line to sohinalbertlea@gmail.com. We have open meetings on the first and third Sunday of each month at 6 p.m. at the American Legion in Albert Lea (except for Super Bowl Sunday).

A wider endeavor that includes communities affected by the Mayo monopoly is the Rural Healthcare Coalition, which can be contacted at ruralhealthcarecoalition@gmail.com.

We continue to fight for our rights in our community and to preserve our legacy. Please join our cause! This is so important to us as individuals, to retain our history and for the future of our communities.

Merilynn “Mimi” Linde

Albert Lea