04/30/2026
The Star Tribune published a commentary from Jane and other faith leaders. Please join us in calling on our legislators to SAVE Hennepin County Medical Center!
While stopped at a red light, Valentine was T-boned by another driver who was traveling at highway speed. Suffering a severe brain injury, she received care at Hennepin County Medical Center in their traumatic brain injury outpatient clinic. She was sent to HCMC because they were the only ones with the traumatic brain injury care available at the scale she needed.
Hokan had a malignant cancerous tumor in his brain. When he walked into the HCMC emergency room not knowing what was wrong, the staff quickly assessed the need for brain surgery and performed it immediately. Thanks to top-rate care, he was able to realize his dream of being ordained as a Buddhist priest.
A community member has an adult child who suffers from schizophrenia, and has been getting state and federal housing and food assistance for more than a decade. They see an HCMC psychiatrist every six weeks, which is crucial to keeping them healthy and on their medications. Without HCMC, this parent fears their child would have nowhere to go and probably end up homeless and on the streets again.
As faith leaders, we know that accidents and illnesses happen. The stories above are just a few we could tell about the times we’ve witnessed life changing in an instant because of a medical event — a tumble down the stairs, a slip on the ice, a tragic collision, a heart attack, a mental health crisis, a severe allergic reaction. And because of our experiences accompanying people through those sorts of times, we are also keenly aware that we all rely on a network of care. We simply expect our health care system to be there for us when we need it most — to calm our pain, to save our lives, to help us access all the services that facilitate recovery and, when it is time, to ease our dying.
In addition, we routinely observe the key role of Hennepin County Medical Center in supporting our collective health. Despite the “Hennepin” in its name, HCMC provides care for people from all over our state. When we learn that someone from our community is on their way to HCMC, at first our hearts sink, because we know that means their condition is very serious. But also, we’re relieved, because we know they will receive the best possible care there, including trauma care that most other hospitals in Minnesota simply can’t provide. HCMC staff are known for their compassion, commitment and expertise. HCMC is a teaching hospital that provides training for doctors who serve all over our region. And HCMC is one of just a few essential safety net hospitals, not turning anyone away.
The federal government’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” — our word would be “ugly,” with its massive cuts — is attacking all our systems of well-being. We are deeply troubled by the prospect that cuts to Medicaid funding could cause the closure of HCMC, a linchpin of our health care system here in Minnesota and surrounding states. Increases in costs or decreases in essential services in one place affects the viability of the system for everyone. We worry that the loss of HCMC could cause the entire network to collapse.
Our faith traditions are different and yet united in their commitment to tending the common good and building a healthy society. For Christians, the healing work of Jesus is a model. Jesus not only relieved bodily symptoms of illness, but also restored those who are sick, disabled or poor to a place of dignity in the community. In Buddhism, a key practice is that of boundless compassion. This compassion includes both the wish that others be free from pain and the activity that strives to free them, likened to the way a mother would protect her only child.
The truth is: A health care network that facilitates the equitable sharing of resources and care is not some pie-in-the-sky idea. It is a practical common-sense solution — the only way forward that is viable. We urge our legislators to find a way to keep Hennepin County Medical Center open to serve all the people of Minnesota and this entire region. All of our lives depend on them doing so.
Signatories to this article are the Rev. Pam Fickenscher, senior pastor, St. John’s Lutheran Church, ELCA, in Northfield; Sosan Theresa Flynn, guiding teacher, Clouds in Water Zen Center in St. Paul; the Rev. Dr. Oscar Sinclair, senior minister, Unity Church- Unitarian in St. Paul, and the Rev. Jane McBride, principal minister, First Congregational Church of Minnesota, UCC, Minneapolis.
"Our faith traditions are different and yet united in their commitment to tending the common good and building a healthy society," the authors write.
