Essentia Health St. Mary’s Medical Center One Year Later

DULUTH, Minn. — Just one year ago on Wednesday, Essentia Health opened doors to its $900,000,000 St. Mary’s Medical Center, emptying patients out of their St. Mary’s Legacy Hospital.

In its first year of operations, the Essentia Health St. Mary’s Medical Center has delivered 1,600 babies, performed 14,000 surgeries, and admitted 17,000 patients.

The hospital provides state of the art equipment meant for training and retaining staff to stay in the Northland. 

“The journey for us to date has been about our care team,” said Tamm Kritzer, the senior V.P. of Essentia Health and the administrator of St. Mary’s Medical Center. “Giving them the tools that they need to practice in an environment that allows us to put the patient first has probably been the most remarkable thing about the first year.”

Wednesday, Essentia Health St. Mary’s Medical Center was recognized by the American Hospital Association as one of five hospitals across the country to be given the Dick Davidson NOVA Award. The prestigious award is given out to hospitals who make innovations in bringing better health care to the populations they serve.

Essentia Health St. Mary’s Medical Center was awarded for connecting people with their Resourceful project. The program partners with local organizations, like Second Harvest Food Bank, to connect people with local free and reduced-cost services.

“It is so nice to immediately connect local families, children, and senior to important nutritious resources in our region,” said President and CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank Shaye Moris. “It’s been a wonderful opportunity for our neighbors experiencing food insecurity. Since its launch, we have received nearly 400 referrals to our programs and ensured meals for many, many of our community members. We are just very pleased to be a part of the Resourceful program.”