A crowd from across the North Shore gathered within Aspirus Lake View Hospital in Two Harbors this past Tuesday evening, roughly 30 minutes by car from the City of Silver Bay and the Lake View Silver Bay Clinic, slated to close December 31, 2026, the end of this year. Within the hospital, a public hearing was held to gather comments from residents affected by the closure, moderated by Rick Michals, Regional Manager at the Minnesota Department of Health, and with questions answered by Greg Ruberg, President at Aspirus Lake View.
Ruberg made it clear in his comments throughout that closing the clinic was done as a result of issues both close to home and on a broad level; within Silver Bay, a lack of clinicians and patients visiting the clinic. On a broader level, he noted “healthcare is changing drastically this year and in the previous couple of years,” both on a state and federal level.
Multiple times over the course of the Q&A, he brought up closing the clinic as a way to ensure the remaining Lake View Hospital in Two Harbors stay open and available for residents, though when asked directly whether the hospital was at risk of closure he said no; rather, healthcare changes around the country and within the state were making the business of healthcare an increasingly risky proposition, leading to closures becoming a regularity, especially in rural communities.
Silver Bay Mayor Wade LeBlanc spoke first, pushing for the community to come together to ensure the area has healthcare. “We all need to do our part for the whole county and ourselves to try and provide and sustain excellent healthcare. But how we get there is not only up to the people at the front of the room, but us as well,” he said, fighting back emotion. “It’s a difficult situation for everybody.”
Several residents of Silver Bay had concerns over the choice to hold the hearing at the hospital rather than within Silver Bay. Ruberg responded that, by statute, the hearing should have been held in Duluth but that their team had pushed to move the meeting within Lake County. This answer was less than satisfying to much of those in attendance, including Silver Bay resident Marsha Oates. “While this venue may satisfy the letter of the law, it fails to uphold its spirit. The intent of this requirement is clearly to make the hearing accessible to the people most directly affected by the closure,” she stated, continuing on to note that technical limitations for many residents make online access to the meeting an unsuitable compromise. “Our community deserves better.”
Clinic workers taking paid family leave was a topic that came up several times, with some debate on its effects on staffing. Representative Skraba voiced his concerns on whether the leave was causing more harm than good, while Aaron Kania, a candidate running for Minnesota House District 3A, defended paid leave, stating that for workers such as those in healthcare, “you want them to be safe, healthy, and well-rested” when doing their job.
In addition to those in attendance, two other candidates also weighed in on the matter via email. “Forcing seniors and families to travel 40 minutes or more to receive healthcare is a failure of the system,” Aaron Schweiger, candidate for House 3B, stated. “Minnesotans deserve access to quality, affordable healthcare near their homes, especially our veterans who served this nation.” Congressional candidate Trina Swanson gave a statement that “the closure of the Lake View Silver Bay Clinic would have a devastating impact on healthcare access on the North Shore. Rural communities already face significant barriers to high-quality healthcare, and too often our rural communities suffer in pursuit of a health system’s bottom line. I strongly oppose this closure, and urge Aspirus Health to reverse this decision to preserve local healthcare services in Silver Bay essential to ensuring that rural residents receive timely, equitable, and accessible care.”
Although Ruberg stated they would try to keep staff from the Silver Bay clinic within Aspirus, they will not necessarily be going to the Two Harbors hospital should they choose to stay on board. Members of the clinic within the audience were clearly demoralized by the closure and expressed several of their own concerns, including asking for confirmation on who made the decision behind the closure. Ruberg clarified that the clinic’s closing was a call solely by Aspirus, not the Minnesota Department of Health. When asked by another resident why a public meeting was not held earlier in the process, before the clinic’s closure was decided, there was no answer.
Ruberg’s focus was instead on reiterating that the clinic’s closure was a hard decision made in hard times for healthcare. “The financing mechanism is broken. It’s just not working any longer. There are systems just kind of teetering on the edge of collapse, so we’re trying to make really good, solid decisions so that we’re here in the future.” He further pointed out the healthcare problem in Minnesota is similar to the situation in neighboring states and across the country. “Again, it’s unfortunate, but we’re trying to make sure there’s a hospital and a clinic in Lake County to serve. It’s not the perfect answer, but we’re doing the best we can until we can fix the healthcare system.”
But as bad as the situation is now, Ruberg acknowledged the near future would only have things getting worse. “More challenges are coming in 2027,” emphasizing the unsustainability of the current financial situation given ‘Big Pharma’’s presence, cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, and inflation, among other problems.
Susie Rosette, Silver Bay resident and owner of the provider agency Cardinal Comfort Care, backed up Ruberg’s assessment on the healthcare system. “We have just been hatcheted over the past 10 months with mandates and cuts from every level,” resulting in a current situation where “we all are in triage in Lake County, and the rest of rural Minnesota.”
For now, the Silver Bay clinic will be operating in a limited capacity until the end of the year, with primary care, including lab work and radiology, open only on Wednesdays from 8 am to 4:30 pm. More transportation options for Silver Bay residents and others in the region are being considered, and Ruberg and others hope it will provide a decent solution in the short term. Aspirus will be communicating with patients at the closing clinic to connect them with new providers elsewhere.
