Jutila recovering after accident

• Accident

Emergency personnel carry Andrew Jutila of Cloquet on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance after being injured in a construction accident in Brainerd, Minn. He was working on the College Drive reconstruction project. Steve Kohls/Brainerd Dispatch

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Cloquet area contractor and landscaper Andrew Jutila is on the road to recovery after accidently being backed over by an excavator May 30 while working on a project in Brainerd, Minn.

Jutila – who owns Andrew Jutila Companies of Scanlon – suffered significant injuries to his pelvic and leg areas and was taken by North Memorial Ambulance to Essentia Health St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Brainerd and then transferred via helicopter to North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale, Minn.

Jutila’s mom, Lyn Jutila, said last Friday that Andrew, 29, was conscious and telling jokes the day after the accident, once surgeons had repaired damage to a crushed artery, which allowed blood (and feeling) to return to his feet and lower legs.

Since then it’s been rough going as Jutila battled an infection, a process that delayed surgery to his broken pelvis at least a week.

He is not paralyzed, Lyn said, but the road to recovery will be a long one. While family, friends and his girlfriend have been by his side at the Robbinsdale hospital, they are hoping to bring him home for physical therapy as soon as it’s feasible. Friends are also planning a fundraiser in the fall to help with medical bills and other costs resulting from his injuries.

Friends and others who want to follow Jutila’s progress are invited to check his CaringBridge site, AndrewJutila1. Those who would like to donate to the fundraiser can also put a message on his CaringBridge site, Lyn said, noting that she and her husband Bruce, have been checking messages on their answering machine sporadically since the accident.

According to his CaringBridge site, on Monday the surgeon said the infection is better and Jutila’s temperature is back in the normal range and he is resting comfortably. He still needs orthopedic surgery to stabilize the pelvis and this surgery has not yet been scheduled.

“The doctors said he’s a very strong guy,” Lyn said Friday. “And he’s big and he’s young. Those are all good points.”

The fact that the accident took place on sandy soil was also beneficial, she said, because the sand was more forgiving than a harder surface would have been.

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