News

Our fifth annual LeadingAge Minnesota Foundation Silent Auction is rapidly approaching and will occur this year as part of the 2021 Foundation Golf Tournament rather than our usual Institute event. Can we count on you to help us make this year's auction a success?

The eighth annual LeadingAge Minnesota Foundation Golf Tournament and 5K Run/Walk is Aug. 3, and time is running out to register to play golf or join the 5K. The registration deadline is this Friday, July 9.

AARP Minnesota's state director, Will Phillips, is pursuing a new leadership opportunity as the regional vice president for the AARP West Region, effective June 28. To fill his position, AARP Minnesota is seeking a new state director.

LeadingAge Minnesota is now taking orders for the much in demand assisted living manual, The Essential Guide to Assisted Living in Minnesota.

Our fifth annual LeadingAge Minnesota Foundation Silent Auction is rapidly approaching and will occur this year as part of the 2021 Foundation Golf Tournament rather than our usual Institute event. Can we count on you to help us make this year's auction a success? Our goal is to raise $10,000, and all proceeds from the Silent Auction are used to provide educational scholarships to eligible caregivers and other employees of our member organizations.

Last week, LeadingAge’s Senior Vice President of Research, Robyn Stone, joined Mathematica’s Center for Studying Disability Policy and other panelists for a webinar on strengthening the direct care workforce post-COVID.

After 15 months of social distancing, LeadingAge Minnesota members are ready to gather again for an afternoon of outdoor fun and fundraising. The 2021 Golf Tournament and 5k Run/Walk will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 3 at Prestwick Golf Club in Woodbury. This year, we’ve added an alternate activity for non-golfers with the 5k Run/Walk.

The team that developed the 2019 Minnesota Drug Diversion Prevention Pathway has just released a series of seven short webinars to assist leaders in implementing the Pathway and provide drug diversion education for staff. 

On May 6, 2021, and in conjunction with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Kidde voluntarily announced a recall to replace Kidde TruSense Smoke and Combination Smoke/Carbon Monoxide Alarms. In certain instances, the product may experience a delay in detection or may fail to detect smoke, which could compromise the alarms' ability to alert consumers to a potential fire.

A new AgingServicesJobs.Org platform is now available!

The new platform allows long-term care employers to view candidate resumes, store resumes, and monitor/manage job postings. This service includes an online job board, recruitment advertising, resume bank, career advice, resume services, coaching services, and other career services.

Workforce challenges have become even more acute in the wake of COVID-19. One way to retain the caregivers and staff you have is to help them achieve their higher education goals and advance their careers within the aging services field where they are so needed. To that end, the LeadingAge Minnesota Foundation is offering educational scholarships to eligible caregivers and other employees of our member organizations for 2021.

New resident contract requirements for licensed assisted living settings will be effective Aug. 1. To help members develop new contract language, LeadingAge Minnesota has a new resource available this week in our website store: an assisted living resident contract. The contract template includes rent and service plan components, a meal plan agreement, and the additional required information on the right to designate a representative. 

Gayle Kvenvold, President and CEO of LeadingAge Minnesota, was announced as one of the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journals 2021 Most Admired CEOs honorees.

LeadingAge Minnesota members have access to several new attorney-developed resources related to management agreements under assisted living licensure. The three documents include:

• Assisted Living Licensing Scenarios - Selected Pros and Cons
• AL Management Agreement Considerations
• AL Management Agreement Scenarios

Safe Care for Seniors “I Pledge” pins  are now available for purchase on the LeadingAge Minnesota store for you to use as you bring new staff on-board, or take steps to engage or re-engage your staff in Safe Care. These pins have been a visual way for staff to show their on-going commitment to care that is safe from harm and provided with respect and dignity – always.

The Minnesota Board of Executives for Long-Term Services and Supports posted the newly created Director of Assisted Living position on the state careers website. The person in the role will lead in the development of all Assisted Living Director (ALD) practice standards. The Board seeks a person with assisted living experience or senior living administration with the core knowledge to assist in implementing course objectives, the ALD-In Residence program, examinations, and continuing education as the AL subject matter expert.

Investing in the professional development of the aging services workforce is more important now than it has ever been. The LeadingAge Minnesota Foundation is excited to offer educational scholarships to eligible caregivers and other employees of our member organizations for 2021.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS), through the Nursing Facility Rates and Policy (NFRP) Division and the State Civil Monetary Penalties (CMP) Initiative, is seeking proposals from qualified Minnesota Medicaid-Certified Nursing Facilities that are interested in implementing an online Dementia Care Staff Training Program.

Debra Saliba, MD, MPH, Director, The Anna & Harry Borun Center for Gerontological Research, UCLA Division of Geriatrics, will be the keynote speaker at a May 6t Robert L Kane Memorial Lecture. The focus of the lecture will be on the topic of “mainstreaming long-term care.”

As this year’s Institute draws near, we are finalizing the list of organizations that will be recognized for their work in Safe Care for Seniors at the “Action” and “Excellence” levels. Monday, April 5 is the last day to update your organization’s data to be recognized at the May event. If you are participating in Safe Care for Seniors and have actions in place for each of the 5 action steps, you can access the data portal on the Safe Care for Seniors site to update your progress.