Fosston City is striving to maintain local delivery of babies.
With an arrangement to run the local hospital, Essentia Health has taken away delivery and labour services. In response, the city is thinking of ending its contract with Essentia.
FOSSTON, Minnesota — The city of Fosston is attempting to overturn an Essentia Health decision to cease giving births at the local hospital.
“It’s about control, and Fosston has an agreement that gives us control, but not immediate and direct control, and that’s why we’re in the process,” Jim Offerdahl, the mayor of Fosston, stated
According to the City of Fosston, Essentia Health ceased providing baby deliveries at the town’s hospital in 2022 without providing the 120-day notice mandated by the state and their contract with the city.
City Administrator Cassie Heide said the city plans to utilise legal wording in the contract that authorises Essentia to manage the hospital, to terminate the arrangement, if an impending arbitration panel determines that Essentia may permanently discontinue labour and delivery at the hospital as planned.
“Essentia maybe doesn’t have to deliver babies in Fosston, but there’s no right without a remedy, and our remedy is to terminate and find somebody else who can do that,” Heide said.
WDAY News requested a statement from Essentia Health. According to the statement they supplied, they are
In an interview with WDAY News, Essentia Health stated that declining birth rates, an increase in high-risk pregnancies, and difficulties in hiring staff are the reasons behind the relocation of labour and delivery services. Additionally, it states that they will keep providing postpartum and prenatal care in Fosston.
A statement from Essentia Health said, “We acknowledge that members of the community have questions about this change, and we look forward to providing additional information.” “Our highest priority is the safety and well-being of the patients we’re privileged to serve, and this increasingly common model of shared maternity services provides the safest care possible to our moms and newborns.”
More over an hour south of Fosston, in Detroit Lakes, is the closest Essentia Health labour and delivery facility.
Delivering infants was one of the explicit aspects of their deal with Essentia, according to Offerdahl, for a reason.
It’s so easy, in my opinion, to state that timely baby birth is crucial. It gets crucial how far away you are,” Offerdahl stated.
Offerdahl stated that there is more justification to think about ending the agreement with Essentia Health since there is an increasing concern that more services may go in the future.
“I hear nothing but the concern of the erosion of services, and if this happens what’s next, is what I hear all the time,” Offerdahl stated.
On Tuesday, January 30, there will be a public hearing about Essentia Health’s intention to discontinue its labour and delivery services. in 6:00 p.m., it will take place in Fosston City Hall and via Microsoft Teams.
The council approves landmark designation, signalling the future of Rochester’s downtown historic area
KTTC, ROCHESTER, MN — Significant effects on the future of the city’s downtown may result from a 4-3 vote by the Rochester City Council.
Board member of the Rochester Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC), Mark Hubly, stated, “These are important historic properties and we recommend that they be protected.” “Therefore, the city is currently carrying out its official procedure.”
The area of more than thirty structures that now have historic landmark classification includes South Broadway Avenue, Historic 3rd St, and numerous blocks of 1st Ave.
According to Hubly, the idea behind this categorization is to increase the protection that these 19th-century structures receive from proposed modifications and to make it possible for them to receive additional grant financing.
“We need to find a way to make maintaining an old building economically feasible for these property owners because it costs more,” Hubly stated. “We need to make sure that, from a business standpoint, it makes sense for them.”
John Kruesel and other company owners in the new area claim that there are no recognised advantages to this shift.
According to Kruesel, “no company or landowner has benefited from the most recent loss of the historic district.” Since most of them are two- or three-story buildings, grant funding is required to maintain a decent roof.
Following the voting on the historic designation, a protracted procedure is now in store.
It is now necessary for the city to create an ordinance for this historic area. Two hearings at City Council sessions are necessary for that procedure, in addition to the mayor’s approval.
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