All News

Gayle Kvenvold, President and CEO of LeadingAge Minnesota, was recently named a 2021 Most Admired CEO by the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal. In a feature story published on Sept. 7, Gayle drew attention to the workforce shortages long-term care providers are facing:

When you do a Random Act of Kindness, the hormone oxytocin (the “feel good” hormone) is produced in your body.  Studies show that doing a random act of kindness will:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has informed LeadingAge that changes are coming to the weekly NHSN COVID-19 Vaccination Data Collection Forms for Long-Term Care Facilities that will require Level 3 access for reporting.

This week, lawmakers have yet to call a special session to allocate the $250 million set aside for Hero Pay bonuses, and new Senate majority and minority leaders have been elected. Here is what you need to know about what is happening at the Capitol this week:

At a meeting last week, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) shared initial findings from assisted living surveys that have been conducted.

As the workforce crisis deepens due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the 1135 waiver remains in place, grant funding for the Basic Care Aide and Paid Feeding Assistant Training programs has been extended until November.

Featuring Dr. Alyson VanAhn from Associated Clinic of Psychology

Since the COVID era began, we've been witnessing and talking about the traumatic effects of the virus and how to cope as best we can. These things are real and can range from mental distress to physical exhaustion— and can include significant grief and worry.

On Sept. 10, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) updated QSO-20-38-NH concerning nursing home testing to align with recently updated recommendations from the CDC.

This is the very last week you will receive LeadingAge Minnesota’s Advantage newsletter on a Wednesday. Starting next week, you can expect it to be delivered to your inbox every Thursday afternoon.

Last week the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced that it is making $25.5 billion in new funding available for health care providers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of a broad COVID-19 Action Plan released late last week, President Biden announced new vaccine mandates for workers across the country. The plan addresses several topics relevant to aging services, including preparation for the delivery of booster shots if approved and recommended by the FDA and CDC, and efforts to build the supply of rapid COVID tests, but the most prominent aspects of the White House plan relate to mandates.

To streamline and coordinate timing between national and state communications, Advantage, LeadingAge Minnesota’s weekly newsletter, will be sent to you on Thursdays starting on Thursday, Sept. 23. You can expect the same timely content delivered into your inboxes each week, just one day later.

Leadership has never been more critical than it is right now.

LeadingAge Minnesota's highly acclaimed Nursing Leadership Certificate Program begins Sept. 29 and runs through spring. It has a proven, 30+ year track record of developing and supporting nursing leaders in aging services.

Join colleagues on Oct. 13 to learn and practice approaches to enhance your quality improvement program, use data and information to drive decision-making and develop and implement solutions to address priority issues.

Make plans to join us at three signature event conferences this fall – the virtual Annual Meeting and Leadership Forum, the Quality and Patient Safety Conference and Workshop, and the Connect Conference. Registration is open for all events.

Nominations are due Monday, Sept. 13 for the 2022 Stars Among Us Awards.

Award categories include Caregiver, Volunteer, and Board Trustee of the Year, Outstanding Leadership, Spirit of Aging and the new Rising Star Award. Excellence in Practice organizational awards are for performance improvement and Safe Care for Seniors initiatives.

Care centers have access to an engagement, retention, and leadership building platform for FREE through a grant for Align’s Employee Engagement Solution. A new grant window is opening soon, just as the previous cycle is wrapping up.

Join our LeadingAge, our national affiliate, for a housing call on Monday, Sept. 13 at 11:30 a.m. CT to discuss staffing issues in affordable housing communities.

LeadingAge Minnesota encourages all assisted living providers to complete the background study affiliation process before the Minnesota Department of Health closes home care records. If your home care agency is closing, you must act quickly if you have staff to affiliate from your home care agency record.

Resilience is our ability to bounce back from the stresses of life, and doing Random Acts of Kindness for others is a scientifically proven way to build resilience. Learn more in this 2-minute Self Care for Safe Care video with Dr. Alyson VanAhn from Associated Clinics of Psychology.

As the workforce crisis deepens due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the 1135 waiver remains in place, grant funding for the Basic Care Aide and Paid Feeding Assistant Training programs has been extended until November. This support comes from the LeadingAge Minnesota Foundation and EduCare. You may continue to register students here, while EduCare users can still access the training in your EduCare library.

Last week, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) clarified their interpretation of COVID-19 prevention and infection control in assisted living licensed facilities. Screening of residents by staff is required for each resident who is receiving assisted living services. Residents who are only receiving housing and supportive services may screen themselves and report results to staff.

Thursday, Sept. 2 marked the final working group meeting for Hero Pay. Since July, lawmakers have been meeting to finalize how the $250 million allocated to reward frontline workers will be distributed. In their final meeting, co-chairs Senator Housley and Majority Leader Winkler indicated that progress is being made. However, they have yet to reach a consensus and will continue the conversation beyond their self-imposed deadline of Sept. 7.

This week, the Long-Term Care Imperative is conducting a survey of workforce conditions faced by care center and assisted living members.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) has announced a plan for moving from emergency background studies back to studies with fingerprints and photographs.

Developing and supporting nursing leaders in aging services has never been more important than it is right now. LeadingAge Minnesota's Nursing Leadership Certificate Program is a proven training ground for the state's most accomplished leaders.

Registration is open for this year’s Quality and Patient Safety Conference on Oct. 14 in Bloomington, and the pre-conference workshop, Foundations of Quality Improvement, on Oct. 13.

The 2021 Annual Meeting & Leadership Forum is being converted to a virtual conference this year. The updated schedule will have half-day virtual programming on the original dates of Sept. 22, 23, 24, and Tuesday, Oct. 5.

The Connect Conference that brings together senior housing, assisted living, and home care returns to Earle Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center this Oct. 27 and 28. The landscape of aging services has changed in the last year, and this conference features several related educational sessions.

Planning is underway for the 2022 Institute & Expo, Feb. 8-11 at the RiverCentre in St. Paul. We are now accepting your proposals to present concurrent educational sessions at the conference, which over 3,000 aging services professionals attend.