Community Corner

Edina Surgeon Shovels Patient's Walkway Following Snowfall

Dr. Bill Omlie, a surgeon with Surgical Consultants, brought his 89-year-old patient to Fairview Southdale Hospital for surgery following the last winter storm.

An Edina surgeon went the extra mile earlier this month for a patient, driving to her home in the middle of a snowstorm to ensure she could undergo a scheduled procedure.

Dr. Bill Omlie, who works as a surgeon with Fairview Southdale Hospital's Surgical Consultants, wanted to ensure Lorraine Scatieno was able to have a surgery aimed at helping with her ongoing dialysis treatments. Omlie said delaying the surgery could have impacted the 89-year-old's life "for a month or more."

“My staff texted me that Lorraine couldn’t make it,” Omlie said, in a release. "I thought I could pick her up and still do the surgery.”

Find out what's happening in Edinawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Scatieno said she was shocked to see her doctor pull into her unplowed driveway a few minutes later, knock on her kitchen door and ask for a shovel. Omlie proceeded to shovel out her walkway, then drove Scatieno to the valet parking entrance of Fairview Southdale.

“I couldn’t say enough good things about Dr. Omlie,” she said. “He doesn’t flaunt anything; he was just as humble as could be. I admired him to begin with, and I could keep on talking about him because I was so impressed.”

Find out what's happening in Edinawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Omlie said his team often gets to know patients and their families, priding themselves on providing exceptional patient care. 

"“I just shoveled out her walkway and brought her in. She was so surprised and amazed. But it was just snow. It’s not like we had a tornado,” Omlie said. “I would go pick up my mother, so why not go pick up Lorraine?”

Like Edina Patch on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | Sign up for our daily newsletter


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Edina