FOR SIX MONTHS in 2023, once a week, my husband, Randy, drove me across the bridge to therapy at Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute in Faribault for vestibular rehab therapy. Without that intense weekly therapy, I doubt I would have reclaimed my ability to function in daily life.
Early in that year, I developed debilitating neurological symptoms following a virus, likely COVID, although I never tested positive for it. There was no other explanation for my sensory overload issues which kept me unable to handle light, motion, sound, anything really entering my brain.
I stayed inside the house, curtains drawn, shutting out sensory input. I couldn’t tolerate watching TV. I couldn’t read. I could hardly handle a phone call or conversation. I felt anxious, overstimulated by even the smallest external stimuli. I barely ate because of hyper-sensitive taste buds. I lost weight. I couldn’t tolerate toothpaste. I couldn’t sleep. I struggled to maintain. Managing daily living seemed nearly impossible. Basically, I was confined to my house, unable to function outside of it.
And then my family doctor, Dr. Todd Sykora of Allina Health in Faribault, referred me to Allina’s Courage Kenny. Sykora had seen me multiple times, determined to find a way to help me. I’d gone through a battery of tests to rule out causes like a brain tumor. I’ll always feel grateful for my doctor’s genuine care and compassion, for not giving up and for admitting that he didn’t have the answers. He eventually suggested vestibular rehab therapy to treat my long COVID.
That therapy would put me on the road back to good health. I was ready to try anything at that point.
Enter Courage Kenny therapist Ryan Iverson, who’s trained in vestibular rehab therapy. From the get-go, Iverson assured me he could help. He validated my traumatic brain injury type symptoms. And then we set to work at those weekly sessions with homework exercises assigned each week. I worked hard, experienced some setbacks, but, eventually graduated after six months. I’d reclaimed my life.
Today I am doing well, although minor sensory issues linger. But now I know how to cope, how to manage. I am living my life, doing the things I love, being with people, out and about. And I owe that to my Allina Health primary care doctor and my vestibular rehab therapist. If not for this great local care, I would still be struggling.
I share all of this again three years later because the Allina Health system, which serves Minnesota and western Wisconsin with 12 hospitals, 60 primary care clinics, 20 urgent care centers and more than 100 specialty care clinics, has signed an agreement with California-based Sutter Health to buy Allina. And that affects me given I get my care through Allina.
From 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, July 29, the Minnesota State Attorney General’s office will host a listening session in Faribault on that proposed acquisition. I’ll be there. You can attend also, but only if you pre-register. And, if you wish to speak, you must complete a form in advance. Only then will you be notified of the community forum location.
This is an important meeting. Important because this is about healthcare. Local healthcare. I’m thankful I could get my vestibular rehab therapy in Faribault. I can’t imagine traveling out of town once a week for six months to access care. It would have been difficult and draining for me, taxing for my brain. Plus, the time and travel expense would have added to an already challenging situation.
I don’t know what will happen if Sutter assumes ownership of Allina Health in Minnesota and western Wisconsin. I expect this acquisition will happen. But I hope safeguards are put in place to continue services, to keep clinics and hospitals open, to protect the jobs of 27,000 employees.
There’s a lot at stake here for any community served by Allina Health.
FYI: Click here for more information about the proposed Allina-Sutter acquisition and the upcoming meeting. That includes links to register to attend and/or to speak.
© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
My take on the state-hosted Allina-Sutter community forum in Faribault July 31, 2026
Tags: Allina Health, Allina Health Faribault Medical Center, commentary, community forum, health, healthcare, listening session, Minnesota State Attorney General's office, news, proposed acquisition, Sutter Health
I’VE BEEN SITTING on pages and pages of notes from a community forum held in Faribault earlier this week on the proposed sale of Minnesota-based Allina Health to California-based Sutter Health. The Minnesota State Attorney General’s Office hosted the meeting, which drew around 200 people.
The intent of the listening session, according to Attorney General Keith Ellison, was to evaluate if the proposal is in the public interest. He cited concerns like wages, competition, unions and access to services. By state law (Statute 145D.01), Ellison is required to consider public input and then make a decision.
But Wednesday’s listening session, which allowed those who signed up in advance to comment for one minute each, seemed anything but a community-oriented event. Rather, Sutter flew in top leaders. Likewise Allina was well-represented by leaders and employees. This seemed well-orchestrated and slanted toward the proposed acquisition. Sixty-two people, nearly all healthcare leaders or professionals and others in leadership positions, spoke.
AVERAGE PERSON UNHEARD
I felt like the average person, the patients, the people in my city and surrounding areas served by Allina Health, were not well-represented. Maybe it’s their fault for not showing up more than they did. Maybe they weren’t aware of the meeting. Maybe they were, like me, intimidated by speaking before a crowd. Maybe jumping through the hoops to comment and/or register online and then waiting to learn the meeting location proved too technologically difficult. I think all factored into the voice of everyday people being mostly left unheard. Two friends of mine who registered online never received email notification of the meeting location.
I didn’t speak. I could have. But I’m uncomfortable standing in front of and addressing a large audience. I’d prefer a roundtable approach, where every voice, not just those of polished professionals, is heard, in person, not via a comment form.
AN IMPACTFUL STORY
Yet it was the voice of a rural Faribault resident who made the most impactful comment of the evening, in my opinion. And it was because of a personal story he shared. Stories connect us, proving to be undeniably powerful in making a point.
This man spoke of a neighbor finding him unresponsive, an ambulance transporting him to the Faribault hospital and then learning from his healthcare team that he had been within minutes of death. His point: He likely would not have survived a longer transport to a hospital in another community.
“If we have to go back to the municipal model, let’s do it,” he said. The Faribault hospital was community-owned until Allina bought Rice County District One Hospital in 2015. And now, 11 years later, change could be, likely will be, coming again with a large California-based healthcare nonprofit buying a smaller Minnesota healthcare nonprofit.
FROM OUT OF STATE & BIGGER
That concerns me—a much larger entity from out of state buying a healthcare system that currently provides services throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin, including in Faribault and neighboring Owatonna. Allina just recently closed Faribault’s birthing center.
The CEOs of both Allina and Sutter used the word “partnership” multiple times in describing the proposed purchase of Allina by Sutter. In my head, I was thinking, “Call it what it is, a sale.”
EMPHASIS ON LOCAL CARE
Allina CEO Lisa Shannon, stating that “healthcare is in real trouble,” something we all know, promised access to affordable and high quality care, keeping the patient as close to home as possible. Likewise Sutter CEO Warner Thomas said several times that “Local care is best care.” I agree. I prefer local to going out of town for my healthcare, although I understand sometimes that’s necessary.
I hope the two CEOs mean what they said. Numerous commenters asked for assurances in writing to protect patients and employees. That seems a valid request.
TECHNOLOGY & FINAL THOUGHTS
The topic of technology also came up repeatedly in referencing benefits of the acquisition by Sutter Health. That bothered me, not because I don’t consider advances in technology in healthcare to be important, but because technology was emphasized so much. It is people who are at the heart of healthcare, not technology.
I could write much more about the positives and negatives expressed during the state-hosted listening session. But rather I’ll stop, hoping that the distrust, doubts and concerns I feel are unwarranted. I will continue to stay informed.
I hope, if this purchase happens, that healthcare in Faribault remains strong—available, accessible and affordable for everyone. That means no closures, no loss of services. I hope I can continue to get most of my healthcare locally from professionals I’ve grown to know and trust. That’s important to me, especially as an aging Baby Boomer.
THOUGHTS?
© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling