On Wednesday, ten of the largest health care systems in Minnesota issued a joint statement declaring gun violence to be a public health crisis. Northfield Hospital + Clinics President and CEO Steve Underdahl said he agrees with them.
“I think it was important,” he said, “for the big system leadership to say what they said.”
Underdahl pointed to a statistic released by Hennepin Health that showed penetrating trauma injuries have increased by 50% since 2020.
“If this was anything else, if this was a disease,” he said, “we would all see this as a health care crisis.”
Underdahl said NH+C is now looking at the plans they have in place to handle a mass shooting situation, both from a treatment center standpoint, and as a potential target.
“The hospital is revisiting all of our plans to protect our staff and our guests,” he said. Referring to the shooting last year at an Allina Clinic in Buffalo, Minnesota, he said Buffalo is “a very Northfield kind of place,” and the idea that something couldn’t happen here is fading quickly.
As they go through the existing plans, he said, they have to consider every possibility, even some that most people would not think of.
“As an example, if you get somebody that comes in with a gunshot wound, the next thing you have to think about is whoever did the shooting may also be coming into your emergency room. So, you can end up with a situation where combatants on either side of an issue both end up converging on the hospital because they’re injured.”
He said, the key is to find what he called the right level of security. A hospital, he said, should not feel like a fortress, but there is now a higher responsibility to be prepared for any situation.
“We have to have a plan,” he said, “to be the help people, and to be the place where people go when bad things happen.”
Human Rights Commission asks City Council for conversion therapy ban
On Tuesday Night, the Northfield City Council discussed an ordinance that will come before them by request of the
Northfield Human Rights Commission banning the practice of conversion therapy for minors and vulnerable adults in Northfield.
Conversion therapy is a practice that has been banned in more than twenty states, that seeks to change a person’s sexual orientation, or gender identity. The practice is highly controversial and can result in serious mental health problems.
The Human Rights Commission began to work on the issue more than a year ago, after a similar ban was instituted in Red Wing. The ordinance has been carefully crafted in conjunction with city attorneys and in collaboration with civil and human rights groups, and mirrors bans from other municipalities across the state. Governor Tim Walz issued an Executive order last July encouraging state and municipal agencies to work together to protect Minnesota youth from the discredited practice. The American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics have all disavowed conversion therapy, and the HRC is asking the Northfield City Council to do the same.
Claudia Garcia, who among other duties is the City Staff Liaison to the HRC said “The city has a compelling and imminent interest in protecting the physical and psychological health of minors and vulnerable adults.”
City Administrator Ben Martig said the therapy is typically conducted quietly and can have disastrous results.
“These are not things that would typically be advertised. In fact, for most professional associations this has been a discredited practice. So, you don’t typically, I think, see advertising for these types of services. And there are high rates of negative mental health impacts and suicide rates around this type of a practice.”
Questions were asked during the discussion about how to enforce the ordinance. Northfield Chief of Police mark Elliott said his department would treat it as they do any other therapeutic related investigation. HRC Chair Linda Larson said most like the results of an investigation would then be forwarded to the appropriate licensing board and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.
The ordinance is expected to be on the agenda for a first reading at the next Council meeting on June 21st.
Cait Kelley of KYMN News contributed to this story
Rice County law enforcement departments may give drug offenders a different path
Rice County Attorney John Fossum said he is looking into a program, that would combine the resources of his office, the County Community Services Office, the Faribault and Northfield Police Departments and Healthy Community Initiative to keep low level drug offenders from facing jail time and prosecution and instead receive the treatment and help that they need.
Fossum said he was contacted by Faribault Police Chief John Sherwin and Northfield Police Chief Mark Elliott with the idea. “This would be for those 3rd, 4th or 5th degree offenses that can really linger in the court system for some time,” he said. If they are able to successfully complete treatment, then they might not be charged with an offense. Fossum said this sort of program is not a common thing, and as long as all the departments agree, then he thinks this is worth trying out.
“I think it’s a really creative initiative, and as long as the police are in support of it, I’m in support of it. I’m willing to take a look at it and see if there’s a way for us to correct our corrections response, reduce our incarceration response, and out prosecution response to drug crimes.”
The difference between this new “Deflection and Diversion” program and Drug Court is in both the timing and the participants. Fossum pointed out that Drug Court is more for people who are at high risk of going to prison, after repeated offenses. This program would be intended to keep people out of the court system and keep the small-time offense off of their record.
“It could save those people a lot,” he said, “and it could save society a lot.”
HCI is currently working on a grant proposal that would come through the federal government in order to fund the treatment portion of the program. Fossum said a grant like this is highly competitive, and there might be a way to do this even if they do not receive the federal funding.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Rice County Attorney John Fossum can be heard here
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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