Star Tribune
Doctors, nurses speak out against Allina’s closure of intensive care unit at Unity hospital
Allina Health is in the unusual position of publicly quarreling with doctors and nurses over plans to halt intensive care at the Unity hospital campus in Fridley and whether it will hurt an overburdened ambulance system in the north metro.
Unity’s patients will be transferred nine miles to Allina’s Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids if they end up needing intensive care, but caregivers said that could prove harmful because ambulances aren’t always available.
“Ambulance transfers between Unity and Mercy take hours, even when the patient status is critical,” said Gail Olson, a nurse at Unity for three decades. “Reducing Unity’s ability to care for critically ill patients will make this worse.”
The grievance spilled out earlier this month when a recently unionized group of Allina doctors joined with nurses and others to protest the health system’s changes to Mercy and Unity, which are licensed as a single hospital with two campuses.
Allina leaders said the changes, including the elimination of inpatient pediatric beds, will replace underutilized services with those that can reduce hospital overcrowding and backlogs in the emergency room. More details are expected at a public hearing Tuesday.
Patients too often are “boarding” in ER bays while waiting for inpatient beds to open up, said Dr. Jay MacGregor, Allina’s vice president of medical affairs for both campuses. “That is something we need to be very proactive about solving.”
How hospital changes affect 911 response is a concern. Response times in the Twin Cities held steady from 2022 to 2023, when ambulances took about 10 minutes to arrive at emergency scenes in Hennepin County and 11 minutes in Anoka County, according to a report from Minnesota’s Emergency Medical Services Regulatory Board. But EMS leaders have raised concerns about the increasing requests to transfer patients when their agencies are running short on drivers and paramedics and need to prioritize emergencies.
MacGregor said the number of ambulance transfers is a problem that has worsened with the overcrowding and boarding in hospitals. More than 3,000 patients are transferred between the Mercy and Unity campuses each year, according to state EMS data. Many involve patients with psychiatric crises who are taken to Unity, which houses all of the inpatient mental health and substance abuse beds on the two-hospital campus.
Transfer times from Unity to Mercy have increased on average from 88 minutes in 2021 to 115 minutes so far this year, state data shows.
MacGregor said he believes that Allina’s changes actually will reduce transfers and delays. Unity since its 2016 merger with Mercy has lost the staffing to provide 24-7 intensive care, so some critically ill patients already have to be moved on weekends or at other times, MacGregor said.
Consolidating ICU care at Mercy will result in more patients with critical care needs going to Coon Rapids first, he said. “We really want our patients to go to one location and stay there.”
Unity will maintain a special care unit that can provide advanced care, but not long-term treatment of the sickest patients, such as those who are dependent on mechanical ventilators.
Hospitals have merged under one license in other areas to conserve funds and eliminate redundant or underused services. Allina also merged Regina Hospital in Hastings with United Hospital in St. Paul, and Mayo combined its southeast Minnesota hospitals in Austin and Albert Lea.
Even so, eliminating intensive care would be an unusual step at a hospital campus the size of Unity. While it is no longer a standalone hospital, Unity operates 150 beds and almost every U.S. hospital that size has intensive care beds, federal data shows.
Any hospital that size is going to have patients who deteriorate and need intensive care urgently, said Dr. Alia Sharif, a hospitalist who treats patients admitted to the Fridley campus. “Unity … needs to have an intensive care unit.”
The public dispute is the first since Mercy’s inpatient doctors voted to unionize and be represented by the New York-based Doctor’s Council. Several physicians said the union movement allows them to be more vocal against changes they think are hurting health care in their hospitals.
ROCHESTER – The biggest venue here will technically have new operators in 2025, though there likely won’t be staff changes.
Experience Rochester has switched operating companies, ending a contract with venue specialists ASM Global and expanding a contract with its food and beverage vendor Oak View Group. The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) revealed Friday that 146 workers would be affected by the switch.
ASM Global notified DEED officials last month that it planned to lay off its staff running the Civic Center. Experience Rochester said in a statement Friday that Oak View Group plans to rehire and retain all employees once it takes over operations in January, “ensuring continuity and a seamless transition for our staff and our guests.”
The Mayo Civic Center has been a Rochester fixture since 1939, though it’s expanded over the years. It boasts almost 200,000 square feet of space, can seat up to 7,200 people in its arena and claims to be the largest event facility in southern Minnesota.
A head-on crash of pickup trucks on the Iron Range in northern Minnesota killed both drivers, officials said.
The collision occurred about 8:50 a.m. Thursday just west of Britt in the 9100 block of Biss Road, the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office said.
Frank Bertram Ratliff, 76, Angora, Minn., was driving east on Biss and appeared to have drifted onto the shoulder to the right, overcorrected and struck a westbound pickup being driven by Steven Craig Shoden 69, of Virginia, Minn., the Sheriff’s Office said.
Emergency responders declared both men dead at the scene.
Architect Paul Ormseth wanted a project, and the bluff of St. Paul felt like the perfect place.
Between overgrown bushes and shrubs, right in the middle of 77 steep steps connecting pedestrian traffic between St. Paul’s Grand Avenue and Lawton Street, Ormseth discovered the foundation from an old house. Standing on the lot with views of the Mississippi River valley and High Bridge, Ormseth decided to build.
Today, the home spans 1,410 square feet and is on the market for the first time. Current owner — former editor of the Growler Magazine Joseph Alton — is selling the beloved property he spent more than a decade in to focus on his Wisconsin farm full time. Built in 2008, it’s much newer than the historic mansions surrounding it and a fraction of the price at $489,500.
The two-bedroom, one-bathroom house in the Summit Hill neighborhood is one of a kind, said listing agent Anna Garnaas-Halvorson.
“People are either going to love it and want it and be willing to pay for it. Or they don’t want to carry their groceries down the steps to the house,” Garnaas-Halvorson said. “It’s probably the most unique house ever. I almost feel like I’m in a tree house in there, and I love how it’s so cozy in its spaces.”
While the new owner will have to trek up and down the stairs regularly, the city actually maintains the stairs, including shoveling in winter. But some potential drawbacks are because of the home’s location, there is no street address (70 Lawton Steps is what goes on mail), no garage and only street parking available, the closest being at the top of the stairs along South Lawton Street.
That’s also where the mailbox is, though Amazon delivery drivers seem to always brave the steps to drop packages right at the front door. DoorDashers, however, often have a hard time finding the place.
But with an open floor plan and plenty of seating available in the courtyard, the home has been a host’s dream, Alton said.
