Over 50 years ago, residents of the Cuyuna Range began developing a local healthcare center. They began planning out the possibilities of keeping a high quality healthcare within their community after the Miner’s Hospital closed in the 1950’s. One man who has had an active voice throughout the whole transformation is Earl Bedard.

Once the Miner’s hospital closed in the late 1950’s the Cuyuna Range community didn’t stop their efforts to build a new district hospital.

And serving on the board for nearly 60 years, Bedard is one of the original founders of the Cuyuna Regional Medical Center.

Even when he worked in the mines in Hibbing, Minnesota, for 13 years, Bedard never missed a meeting.

Flash-forward to today and the CRMC now employs around 1,000 jobs in the are, in large part to Bedard and the other 16 original founders.

By — Chelsie Brown

News/Sports Reporter in Brainerd