News

For over 50 years, LeadingAge Minnesota business partner member Friends & Co has been creating connections and friendships for older adults. Propelled by the pandemic, the organization has expanded services aimed at loneliness and isolation statewide and redoubled its focus on fostering connection and companionship for happy, healthy aging.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) is conducting a second round of grant funding for HCBS providers supporting rural and underserved communities.

Earlier this week, the Minnesota Nursing Association (MNA) nurses and various hospitals came to a tentative agreement that will avert the planned unfair labor practices strike scheduled to start on Sunday, Dec. 11. MNA nurses will work quickly to vote on the tentative agreement Specifics of the official agreements remain unconfirmed, but MNA has released a statement detailing the tentative three-year contracts. 

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) is now accepting applications for the Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Employee Scholarship Grant and Loan Forgiveness Program until Jan. 6, 2023.

Members can post their open positions to the AgingServicesJobs.org job board at a reduced rate of only $39 per posting until Dec. 31.

After seven years of successfully supporting the goals of the Long-Term Care Imperative, our joint Face Aging MN campaign has come to a close.

This week, Elder Voice Advocates launched Elder Care IQ. The free tool allows users to search for long-term care providers across Minnesota by name or location. The search results summarize key information about each provider, including the number of maltreatment investigations conducted by regulators.

After advocacy from LeadingAge and others, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has proposed a change in the calculation of Operating Cost Adjustment Factors (OCAFs) to account for high inflation and sharp increases in property insurance costs.

Each month, our national partner, LeadingAge, focuses on a new workforce topic to share tools, articles, and research to help providers take action in their workforce efforts. This month’s focus was on Compensation and Benefits.

Researchers from Brown University School of Public Health found a positive correlation between states with supportive third-party service regulations and the likelihood of assisted living residents dying in place.

September is National Workforce Development Month and to celebrate a new member resource,  A Guide to Effective Individual Development Plans, is now available.

September is National Workforce Development Month, and one of the most proven member resources to grow your workforce is OnTrack Nursing Assistant Training.

A study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that pandemic-related closures of adult day services left older adults and caregivers without critical support. The magnitude of the impact of adult day closures on well-being, particularly among members of racial/ethnic minority groups, has yet to be measured because nationally representative data sets associated with adult day center participation do not yet exist.

Lifeline and the Telephone Assistance Program are two programs that help make communication services more affordable.

With workforce pressures reaching unprecedented levels, the 2022 LeadingAge Minnesota Foundation Golf Fundraiser helped raise nearly $60,000 to benefit the LeadingAge Minnesota Foundation. The golf event was held on Aug. 2 at Prestwick Golf Club in Woodbury.

The Minnesota State HealthForce Center of Excellence has created a new Nursing Program Openings webpage to show which colleges and universities around the state of Minnesota have available seats in their nursing programs for the Fall 2022 semester.

Opening Doors to Aging Services is a national LeadingAge initiative to introduce the aging services sector to millions of Americans and positively shift perceptions of our field.

Our last Self Care for Safe Care topic is Mindfulness and Self Care. Mindfulness is a practice and a way of being present in the moment. Being present in the moment can help you to gather the inner resources you need to take better care of yourself and be more efficient.

As part of the Opening Doors to Aging Services Initiative, our national partner, LeadingAge, has developed a research-based language guide intended to be used as a resource to aid in understanding aging services’ depth and breadth.

Community grants of up to $99,000 are being offered by the Age-Friendly Minnesota Council in cooperation with the Minnesota Department of Human Services. As the first step in this process, communities can submit an interest form by Aug. 1. A virtual Responders Conference will be held during the application period to address applicant questions.