Big Name Celebrities Celebrate Sanford’s “Milestone” in Concert

Fergie, Lionel Richie, Josh Duhamel and Carzon Wentz greeted thousands in Fargo

FARGO, N.D. — Some big name celebrities came to Fargo to celebrate a new hospital.

Most of them have North Dakota ties.

“I love this state so much,” said Josh Duhamel to a crowd near Sanford’s new medical center. “I’m so proud to be back here.”

Josh Duhamel and Carson Wentz joined Fergie and Lionel Richie to celebrate Sanford’s new medical center.

“It’s just a great way to celebrate such a milestone,” said Susan Jarvis, executive director of Emergency, Trauma and Critical Care. “You don’t see hospitals built every day. We really wanted to celebrate it, this is a really big deal.”

The concert was just for Sanford employees and their loved ones, but thousands filled the fields.

Many said they’re excited for the special guests.

“I prefer Lionel, just because my age,” said Vice President Of Operations, Ellen Cooke.

“Well, Josh Duhamel, because he’s Josh Duhamel,” said Anna Haberman, an internship supervisor who attended the concert.

Josh Duhamel proudly told an excited crowd, “I am really really really excited to introduce my new friend. Probably within two or three years, the best quarterback in the NFL. Carson Wentz.”

Wentz replied, “Uh, no pressure I guess. We thought this was going to be a small little crowd, couple people…
That’s not how we do it North Dakota.”

Staff said the ten floor medical center will help better the lives of patients in the Fargo-Moorhead region, but it will also help out their employees.

“Giving more opportunities and more room for my internship program to really explode and become a really big part of Sanford,” said Haberman.

“Once a hundred years, you get to build a hospital,” said Cooke.

For some staff members, putting together the Gothic architecture inspired medical center was a once in a lifetime experience.

“I am the luckiest person in the world to have this in my life,” said Cooke. “And we all are here in North Dakota.”

“Now Philly is like my home, but this place will forever be my home,” Wentz said to a cheering crowd.

Staff members said the concert was funded by Sanford and was a part of their opening celebration budget.

The new medical center opens July 25th.