giving for good bemidji

A region update from Dr. Jason Caron, president & CEO of Sanford Bemidji.
May, 2026

I care deeply about the future of health care in this community. As someone who lives here, practices medicine here and helps oversee our local hospitals and clinics, I believe it’s important to understand what it takes to keep care close to home. 

In our community, roughly 70% of patients rely on Medicare or Medicaid. These programs are essential, but combined, they reimburse well below the actual cost of care. Essentially, what this means is for every dollar we spend caring for patients, we typically have less than four cents left to help cover equipment replacements, facility upkeep, changing technology, workforce support and savings for unexpected expenses, like a natural disaster, pandemic or increased supply chain costs.  

These financial pressures are not unique to our community. Across Minnesota and the country, hospitals are struggling under the same combination of rising costs and reimbursement levels that do not keep pace with the care being delivered. As part of a nonprofit health system, we use annual capital allocations to help address essential needs, such as repairing facilities, replacing aging equipment and planning for future space when new construction is necessary. 

Capital funding alone is rarely enough to cover the full cost of improving or expanding care in facilities of this age. That’s why community philanthropy and public partnerships remain so important. Support from local donors, along with grants and collaboration with city, county and state partners, often tips the balance, enabling us to move forward with meaningful improvements. 

Projects have been realized through a combination of philanthropy and public partnership, including the Sanford Bemidji Crisis Center and the Sanford PrimeWest Residential Support Center. These efforts reflect a collective commitment to addressing complex challenges with compassion and coordination. 

Philanthropy alone has also helped bring specialized care closer to home, including state-of-the-art technology at the Sanford Joe Lueken Cancer Center and equipment like our Mobile Mammography truck. These spaces show what’s possible when community generosity aligns with long-term planning. 

I’m proud of this community’s long history of supporting its hospitals, clinics and caregivers. And I’m grateful for the partnerships that make it possible to keep care close to home, not just for today, but for the generations that will follow. 

Dr. Jason Caron