A 59 year old Northfield woman is dead after a crash with a dump truck yesterday morning in Webster Township. Rice County Sheriff Troy Dunn said that just before 9am, they received a call of a crash at Co. Rd. 86 and 46. There were 2 victims, one with minor injuries who was taken to Northfield Hospital. Marsheila Thiesen died at the scene. The driver of the tandem dump truck is 58 year old Mark Schroer of
LeCenter. Dunn said he was traveling eastbound on Co. Rd. 86 and failed to stop at the stop sign, colliding with the Ridgeline truck, which then rolled. The crash scene was reconstructed by the MN State Patrol and taffic was detoured for about 6 hours. Upon completion of the crash investigation all reports will be forwarded to the Rice County Attorney’s Office.
Wheatland Township man remains in critical condition after backhoe accident
Nearly at the same time, Rice County Deputies and first responders were called to a report of someone being struck by a back-hoe in Wheatland Township. Upon arrival, responders treated 83 year old Joseph Schiprett for serious injuries. He was flown to North Memorial Hospital. Schiprett was working with his backhoe when he tried to start it and it lurched forward, knocking him down and running over him. Sheriff Dunn said that Schiprett was speaking to him before he was transported. Rice County Sheriff’s Office , Lonsdale Police, North Memorial Ambulance-New Prague, North Air Care and Lonsdale Fire all assisted. Eric Swanson with North Memorial reports that Schiprett remains in critical condition.
Small fire – big damage
A structure fire this morning caused significant damage. About 7:30 this morning, Northfield Fire Chief Gerry Franek said they responded to 20 Park Dr. on report of a kitchen fire. When they arrived there was smoke and flames from the back, the windows had popped out and there was active flame in the kitchen. They put the flames out and remained on scene for about 45 minutes to make sure it was secure. Franek said the circuit breaker tripped and made the smoke alarms chirp which alerted the homeowner. No one was injured but the home is not liveable. Franek estimates the damage at $75 to 100,000. Franek said they’ll have to totally gut the kitchen and clean up smoke and water damage. Franek said it was a lot of damage for a relatively small fire adding that it originated from the refrigerator’s compressor.
While the population ages, it would seem counterintuitive to have fewer nursing homes but Northfield Hospital and Clinics President and CEO Steve Underdahl said that people want alternatives to traditional nursing homes such as “aging in place”. People are also looking at assisted living that also has additional services as their needs change. Memory care services are also growing. What’s challenging for a hospital based nursing home is the cost structure is higher. Up until 2016, the Hospital underwrote between $750,000 to $1 million per year to run the Hospital Nursing home. However, in 2016 the legislature made it possible for them to get through to 2021. The Hospital Board approved continuing the nursing home as is and develop new options such as assisted living and memory care. They’ve been working with Yanik Companies out of Minnesota and Benedictine Health System for development on the northwest corner of the campus. Underdahl said the hospital’s would act as a facilitator, Yanik would own it while the Benedictines would operate it. There are many steps yet that involve approval from various entities.
