Dec. 2025

Connected Communities: A Simple Idea Changing Rural Aging

On December 2, 2025 by Gina DiMaggio

Connected Communities is a statewide effort to help older adults live well, wherever they call home, by strengthening the relationships, services, and local supports that surround them.

It brings together senior care leaders, health care organizations, community groups, and neighbors to help people thrive as they age—especially in rural areas where resources are limited. What began as two pilots has now grown to a network of five, proving that rural health transformation is needed and possible.

Across Minnesota, Connected Communities partners are expanding access to care, reducing isolation, improving safety, and creating systems that help people stay healthy and connected.

Pilots Expanding in 2025

Three new pilots launched this year—each reflecting local priorities but sharing the same goal: helping older adults stay independent, supported, and engaged.

• Thryve (Guardian Angels Senior Services): Providing companion support, social activities, caregiving education, and help with navigating local resources.
• Freeborn County (St. John’s Lutheran Community): A countywide partnership improving transportation, safety, and access to services, including AI-powered passive remote patient monitoring to reduce falls and identify health concerns earlier.
• Bethesda: Building bridges across geography and cultures— in rural places, plus with those who speak Spanish, Somali, or Karen—to improve access to, understanding of, and support for aging and caregiving.

Impact of Legacy Pilots

The original two pilots are already showing what this approach can accomplish:

• Lakes Area Connected Communities – LACC (Vivie): In just nine months, partners closed nearly 4,000 care gaps and expanded access to care coordination, dementia navigation, and mental health coaching for more than 6,500 older adults, including the region’s first bilingual (Spanish) PEARLS program. LACC absorbed D-CAN staff after they closed to sustain dementia support groups regionally and have scaled from five to ten counties, with ripple effects reaching two-thirds of the state.
• Elevate (Perham Health): Filled 3,100+ volunteer opportunities since its launch, valued at over $575,000; strengthened neighbor-to-neighbor support; and reduced hospital readmissions by 5% for those engaged with the program, while beginning to track avoided healthcare costs. They even won the 2025 statewide Rural Health Award presented by the Minnesota Department of Health for their work.

These local successes are building lasting systems—healthier communities, stronger partnerships, and better care for older adults.

One Life, Changed

Minnesota’s 2025 Rural Health Award winner, Elevate, is seeing the older adults using their services, along with their families, reporting reduced anxiety, feeling less isolated, and avoiding impossible tradeoffs between health and the affordability of basic things like housing, food, and medicine.

One example of this comes from Elevate’s health coach, who began working with a man who needed transportation to dialysis twice a week—thirty minutes each way. What started as a transportation challenge turned out to be much more—he was also facing the threat of eviction.

The health coach didn’t stop at arranging reduced-cost rides. She built trust, listened, and helped him navigate the long and often confusing process of applying for income-based housing.

Today, he’s in a new apartment, driving himself to dialysis, and his health has noticeably improved. Living in a supportive environment where he can connect with others, he’s thriving.

This is what Elevate does best—seeing the whole person, not just the immediate need. Their team’s persistence, compassion, and problem-solving turn challenges into stability—and stability into well-being.

To view photos related to this story, check out our 2025 photo reel here.