Sanford Bemidji

Over the past two decades as an orthopedic surgeon, I’ve seen firsthand how quickly life can change. A routine day can turn into an emergency in an instant — a fall on the ice, a serious injury at work, a car crash. I’ve treated patients who started their day like any other and ended it in an emergency room. In those moments, nothing matters more than getting care as soon as possible. While I’ve helped patients recover and regain mobility, many of those journeys begin in the emergency department.

I recently made the difficult decision to step away from my role at Sanford Bemidji and return to Hennepin Healthcare, where I will have the opportunity to support ongoing work during an important time for that organization. And as I reflect on my time here at Sanford Bemidji, I have been thinking a lot about what it means to serve a place that helped raise you. As some of you may know, I grew up here in Bemidji.

At Sanford Health, our mission is to care, comfort and cure — and that mission is made stronger by the deep sense of stewardship that lives in this community. It’s something you can feel the moment you walk through our doors. Yes, it guides the work of our teams, but it also comes to life in the quiet, everyday ways people support one another. Nowhere is that more evident than in the volunteers who choose to share their time, their energy and their kindness with the people we serve.