Friends of Sanford Health recently donated $100,000 to the Sanford Health Foundation of Northern Minnesota’s Together. For life. project. The donation supports the advanced cardiology program and da Vinci robotics surgical capabilities at Sanford Bemidji Medical Center, ensuring that the care you’d go anywhere to find is right here at home. The Together. For life. project consists of the following:

The Advanced Cardiology Program: a breakthrough for heart care in Bemidji.

Dedicated Cardiology Suite

Cardiac care isn’t something that can wait. Creating a cardiac-only suite within our surgery center and equipping it with the most advanced technologies will enable us to provide emergency cardiac services, saving time and lives.

24-Hour Cardiac Care

With increased staff and enhanced space, we’ll be able to accommodate a greater number of scheduled procedures. More importantly, we’ll have the capacity for emergency cases.

Confidence and Convenience

Once in place, our Advanced Cardiology Program could see 2,400 cardiac procedures per year. This means more patients could be treated close to home, near their families, and by physicians they know and trust.

Enhanced Physician Recruitment

The better the facilities, the better the care. The better Sanford Bemidji is able to provide both, the more likely it is we’ll be able to attract and retain the very best medical staff.

Better Lives

Sanford Bemidji’s Advanced Cardiology Program will save lives—lives of people you know in and around our region. What’s more, it will impact our region itself by creating jobs, by moving larger numbers of professionals to our community and by welcoming countless patients from outlying areas. These emotional and economic effects will benefit us all.

Da Vinci in Bemidji: making robotic surgery a reality.

Enhanced Surgical Specialties

With our skilled surgeons and da Vinci’s exacting standards, Sanford Bemidji will offer the most advanced surgical care in a variety of specialties, including general surgery, urology, pediatrics, gynecology, colorectal care, head/neck treatments and cancer surgery.

Reduced Risk of Infection

When major incisions aren’t required, the risk of infection is greatly minimized.

Greater Precision

You won’t have to travel to the ends of the earth for the world’s most precise surgical treatments—da Vinci will give our surgeons the power to perform them right here.

Increased Patient Satisfaction

Less pain, fewer complications, quicker recovery, greater precision and smaller scars. How could patients be anything but happy?

Faster Recovery

Traditional or “open” surgeries involve substantial tissue dissection, and recovery can take days in the hospital and months off work. Da Vinci’s minimal invasion often means going home the next day and getting back to life within weeks.

Improved Physician Recruiting

Not only will more patients come to Sanford Bemidji for their surgeries, our industry-leading capabilities will allow us to attract the best and brightest surgeons and specialists.

Together, we are unstoppable. We are here to save and improve lives. We are here for life. Our efforts to bring da Vinci robotic surgery and advanced cardiac capabilities to Bemidji will affect each and every one of us, and it will take all of us working together to make it happen. The total cost of these improvements is estimated at $5 million. We are seeking $1.5 million in the form of community philanthropy. Partner with Sanford Health Foundation of Northern Minnesota in this campaign, and you are not merely supporting a new service or technology—you are taking care of people you care about right here in our community.

Pictured in the photo are (l-r): Penny Echternach, Sanford Health Foundation of Northern Minnesota Executive Director along with several Friends of Sanford Health Board Members including, Betty Christ, Pat Kroeplin, Mary Nord (chair), Carla Nicholson, De Pickett, Peggy Reznicek, Peggy Desizlets, Ruth Soukup and Ron Porter.

If you would like information on how to become a Friend of Sanford Health, please contact Kari Knudson at (218) 333-5654. For more information about the Sanford Health Foundation of Northern Minnesota, contact the Foundation office at (218) 333-5515.