By Terri Heggie, Executive Director Crookston Area Chamber
Terri On the Town made another stop recently. This time at Altru. Shayla Solberg, Regional Clinic Manager, and Carrie Bergquist, Regional Health Care Preparedness Coordinator gave me an inside tour and filled me in on the history of Altru.
This recently remodeled clinic started out in 1920 as the Northwestern Clinic located at 220 South Broadway. In 1978 the clinic moved to its current location at 400 South Minnesota Street. In 1985 an expansion took place when Altru Health System acquired Crookston, Erskine, and Fertile and added Red Lake Falls in 1986.
These clinics now complete the Altru Clinic Crookston Region. Presently they employee around 65 staff. When asked to discuss future goals and plans for Altru Shayla shared “our vision is to deliver world-class care to the residents of our region. We continue to bring additional specialties and services to the area keeping patients close to home. Hence our tag line focused on you focused on the future.” As you enter you are warmly welcomed with “Our Promise to You” message on a wall. I believe all the staff I encountered that day take pride in that message as I observed them interacting with patients and fellow employees. The updates for this clinic are far from over as I’ve been invited back when complete.
Altru Clinic Crookston Region has been long-standing Chamber members and I’ve seen the partnership between Altru and the Chamber grow over the last year. We are also grateful to have Carrie Bergquist serve as a Chamber Board of Director. When asked why being a Crookston Area Chamber member is important, Shayla replied: “It is important to us to be involved and support our community by sustaining large events like Ox-Cart Days and Chamber events and activities.” I look forward to my next Terri On the Town Tour at Altru.
