Update: GOP Leaders, Local Officials Speak of Public Safety Issues if the Stillwater Lift Bridge Closes

Leaders of the Minnesota GOP gathered with local officials and Lakeview Hospital staff Monday afternoon to address the public safety concerns surrounding the potential closure of the Stillwater Lift Bridge if the government shuts down July 1.

Below are snippets from conversations with hospital staff and elected officials following the press conference Monday afternoon at Lowell Park.

MnDot:

The Stillwater Lift Bridge could remain open if a state government shutdown occurs July 1, the Minnesota Department of Transportation said today.

MnDOT is including operation of the lift bridge as a core critical function in its contingency planning efforts, pending a final Court ruling, according to a press release from MnDot.

After consulting with public safety officials and health care providers over the past several days, the agency determined that the bridge is a core service critical to maintaining life and health safety. The bridge will remain open primarily to allow ambulance traffic to continue between Minnesota and Wisconsin. 

Rep. Kathy Lohmer (R-Lake Elmo):

During the press conference, Lohmer said: "We need to keep our people safe and that 24 mile detour is too far in any type of an emergency."

Following the press conference, Lohmer said when she heard the president of Lakeview Hospital, Curt Geissler’s concerns about ambulance coverage in western Wisconsin it became a “matter of life and death for someone.”

“One life is too many to lose because we are playing politics,” Lohmer said. “I don’t want to be political. I want the bridge to be in operation. This is the busiest time of year for this area and I am concerned about public safety. I don’t want anything to happen that could have been prevented if we had the bridge.”

Lakeview Hospital has offered to pay for the bridge operations, Lohmer said. “When I spoke with Dana Anderson from the Governor’s Office about it, she said, ‘We don’t allow private money to pay for public employees.’ But whose money is this anyway? All the money belongs to the people.”

Sen. Ted Lillie (R-Lake Elmo)

During the press conference, Lillie said: "This bridge is a critical link to the residents on the Wisconsin and Minnesota side of this river. What's happened here is the governor is holding this community hostage over what is happening with this budget.

"We cannot afford to have this bridge closed because of the safety to residents of both communities," he continued. "If this is deemed to be something that is left open, then it is indicative of other types of things happening across the state. There are thousands of these types of decisions that are going to be made about safety, about infrastructure, about construction projects, about getting people back to work. It's time this bridge be left in the open position and there are other projects to be completed."

Following the press conference, Lillie said he was in Stillwater Friday and watched as an ambulance headed across the bridge to provide service to someone on the other side of the river.

“If this bridge were closed permanently what would happen is they would have to head down to Hudson and come back across,” Lillie said. “Seconds count in life-saving situations and this bridge is a critical link to incidents on both sides of the river. It’s important that is stay open.”

House Majority Leader Rep. Matt Dean (R-Dellwood):

During the press conference, Dean said: "The bridge behind us is an example of what people all over the state are seeing. We don't know if this is going to work, whether or not this is going up or down if there is a shutdown.

Following the press conference, Dean said his wife delivers babies at Lakeview Hospital and one-third of the babies that are delivered there are from women coming from Wisconsin.

“I’ve been to the hospital three times with a wife delivering a baby,” Dean said. “I wouldn’t want to come to this bridge and have a shutdown sign, because you have to go all the way to Hudson and back.

“It’s not just about politics,” he continued. “It shouldn’t be about politics. This is about public safety.”

“You can’t get anymore focused on public safety than someone trying to get to an emergency room, so I think the governor realized it was a stupid mistake, like the shutdown is. Hopefully, we can avoid this whole damn thing.”

RJ Franscone, the regional medical director for Lakeview Hospital

Franscone said keeping the bridge open is a patient-care issue.

“We work really hard in all of our systems—Level 1 Trauma, Level 1 Heart and Level 1 Stroke—and it’s unnecessary delays like this that can damage or even kill patients. It’s absurd.”

“In the case of a heart attack or stroke, the patient can be taken out of the window where we can do treatment,” Franscone said. “In the case of trauma, they can be further damaged by bleeding or even be killed.

“It’s a no-brainer from a medical direction and patient-care issue,” he continued. “We need to get patients to the hospital as quickly as possible.”

Jon Muller, director of EMS at Lakeview Hospital:

When the lift bridge is closed for repairs of because of high water, Lakeview Hospital staff a fourth rig on the Wisconsin side of the bridge, Muller said.

“But with it being over the Fourth of July—and the second busiest month for call volumes—one ambulance isn’t going to cover it and we don’t have the depth because of those call volumes to send more than one of our trucks over there,” Muller said.

The mutual aid system is also tapped this time of year because of community celebrations, he said.

“We’re very concerned about this just based on the sheer volumes of calls we do,” Muller said.

The delay is getting back to the hospital, he said. If a patient wants to be transported back to Stillwater, it’s 24 miles as opposed to three, he said. “It’s dangerous and it takes a lot longer to get to a trauma center.”

Stillwater Police Chief John Gannaway:

When the Stillwater Lift Bridge closes, it’s a “mixed bag” for Stillwater Police, Gannaway said. On one hand it creates it’s own set of issues; on the other hand there is less traffic in downtown Stillwater.

“For us, we have mixed emotions about it,” he said. It doesn’t create any more police work than usual.

“It’s a non-issue for us, but we recognize it is a major factor for the livelihood of the people getting back and forth and for the ambulance folks,” the police chief said.

Stillwater Mayor Ken Harycki:

Harycki said that economically speaking downtown businesses, with the exception of Cub Foods and the Co-op, would probably gain.

“But from a life-safety standpoint, that is where the real risk is,” he said.

When asked what it is like for Stillwater to be in the crosshairs of the Minnesota Budget issue, Harycki said:

“We’re trying to weave a bipartisan trail with this bridge issue. We are trying to work with both sides of the aisle on this big issue. We found a bipartisan way to address the bridge issue. Let’s find a bipartisan way to avoid a shutdown.”