Ecumen’s Matt McNeill Named Fellow In National Aging-Services Leadership Program
Matt McNeill, director of business development at Ecumen, has been selected as a member the LeadingAge 2015 Leadership Academy program.
The Leadership Academy is a year-long national program that provides a challenging learning environment to strengthen the leadership skills of not-for-profit aging-services professionals. Fellows will meet throughout the year to explore diverse perspectives from aging services leaders, learn from innovative care and service models, enhance their leadership skills and core competencies, and advance person-centered programming in aging services.
“The Academy is built on the power of collaboration and community to develop the innovative, person-directed programs our elders deserve,” LeadingAge president and CEO Larry Minnix said, “Together, these individuals will learn valuable leadership skills that will help their organizations offer seniors the services they need, when they need them, in a place they can call home.”
Julie Murray, Ecumen’s vice president of sales, marketing and business development, said, “We’re very proud of this recognition of Matt’s work and look forward to the great ideas we know he will bring back from the Leadership Academy.”
McNeill joined Ecumen a year and a half ago as regional sales and marketing manager and was recently promoted to director of business development. Before joining Ecumen, he was corporate director of marketing for Walker Methodist and has worked at StoneArch Creative in Minneapolis, Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin and University of Chicago Hospitals. He has over 10 years of strategy development, marketing planning and sales team leadership, as well as advertising agency and business development background.
For more about LeadingAge Leadership Academy, visit http://www.leadingage.org/LeadershipAcademy.aspx
Minnesota Nursing Homes Exceed National Antipsychotic Medication Reduction goal
Ecumen is proud to be a partner in the important work of reducing the use of unnecessary antipsychotic drugs in all Minnesota nursing homes. The Minnesota Partnership to Improve Dementia Care recently announced its 2014 first quarter results, which exceeded the national reduction goal. Below is the full press release from Statis Health:
MINNESOTA NURSING HOMES EXCEED NATIONAL ANTIPSYCHOTIC MEDICATION REDUCTION GOAL
The Minnesota Partnership to Improve Dementia Care assisted Minnesota nursing homes to achieve a 15.7 percent reduction in the use of inappropriate antipsychotic medications; the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) national goal was a 15 percent reduction.
The Minnesota Partnership to Improve Dementia Care, led by Stratis Health, is pleased to announce that Minnesota nursing homes have succeeded in the difficult work of reducing the use of unnecessary and inappropriate antipsychotic medications. First quarter 2014 data recently released by CMS showed a reduction of 15.7 percent in Minnesota nursing homes. This success exceeded CMS’s national goal to reduce the use of antipsychotic medications for long-stay residents in nursing homes by 15 percent.
The Minnesota Partnership to Improve Dementia Care was formed in October 2012 to shape Minnesota’s response to the directive included in CMS’s National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care. This national directive was inspired by the findings of a 2011 report from the Office of the Inspector General. The report indicated that 83 percent of nursing home residents on antipsychotic medications did not have diagnoses that warranted the use of such medications. CMS established the National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care in Nursing Homes and began collaborating with state, various agencies, and stakeholder organizations to encourage nursing homes to reduce inappropriate and unnecessary antipsychotic medications. CMS’s national mandate included a tiered reduction plan, of which a 15 percent reduction by 2014 was the initial goal.
The Minnesota Partnership to Improve Dementia Care has:
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Completed a needs assessment
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Developed and distributed a physician letter that explains the reduction goal and asks for physician assistance in the efforts to reduce the use of inappropriate antipsychotic medications
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Developed a family resource that explains why antipsychotic medications are used and the importance of eliminating inappropriate use
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Provided technical assistance to reduce the use of antipsychotic medications in Minnesota nursing homes that have high rates of use
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Disseminated best practice alternatives nursing homes can use in place of antipsychotic medications
The partnership includes:
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Act on Alzheimer’s
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Aging Services of Minnesota
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The Alzheimer’s Association
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American Society for Consultant Pharmacists - Minnesota Chapter
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Care Providers of Minnesota
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Ecumen
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Minnesota Medical Directors Association
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Great Lakes Chapter of the Advanced Practice Nurses Association
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HealthEast Bethesda Hospital
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Minnesota Board on Aging
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Minnesota Department of Health
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Minnesota Department of Human Services
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Minnesota Hospital Association
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Minnesota Veterans Homes
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Office of the Ombudsman for Long Term Care
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Stratis Health
The Minnesota Partnership to Improve Dementia Care congratulates Minnesota nursing homes for achieving this outstanding reduction in the inappropriate and unnecessary use of antipsychotic medications. The partnership looks forward to shaping Minnesota’s efforts to achieve the second stage of goals that CMS is expected to announce in late 2014.
For more information about the Minnesota Partnership to Improve Dementia Care, contact Kristi Wergin, RN, BSN, CPHQ, Program Manager, Stratis Health, kwergin@stratishealth.org, 952-853-8561, or, Kathie Nichols, BSN, RN, CRRN, Nursing Home Liaison, Stratis Health, knichols@stratishealth.org, 952-853-8590.
The Latest in Alzheimer’s Research
Recent research on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is beginning to get lots of attention from mainstream media. Here’s a roundup of items over the past month that caught the attention of Dr. Tracy Tomac, Ecumen's consulting psychiatrist.
StarTribune: Ecumen Joins $27M Senior-Focused Investment Fund
Saturday's Star Tribune Business section featured an article about Ecumen's involvement in a private equity fund that invests in businesses focused on innovations for seniors.
"The fund, called the Ziegler Link-age Longevity Fund, will look for opportunities to take stakes in firms in health management, telemedicine, prevention and wellness and so-called “big data” analysis geared toward seniors. It will not invest in real estate, said Scott Collins, chief executive of Link-age."
Read the full Star Tribune article: "Ecumen Joins $27M Senior-Focused Investment Fund"
Last Week's Top 5 Blog Posts - July 21
Retirement Wisdom, Ways to Say "Older," Minneapolis Project, Gus the Dog, and Aging in Place Survey Findings...
In case you missed out on the latest news, here are the blog posts our online visitors found most interesting last week:
Finding a Wiser Way to Say "Older"
Ecumen Collaborating to Bring Senior Housing to Downtown Minneapolis
Gus the Dog Charms Ecumen Lakeview Commons Residents
Aging in Place: High Demand in Search of Solutions
To read more Changing Aging blog posts or to learn more about Ecumen, please visit ecumen.org!
Top 10 Ways for Seniors to Beat the Heat
The summer swelter is upon us and it’s important for seniors to take extra care during the hot and humid days ahead.
Here are 10 tips to stay cool and healthy through the heat:
- Stay indoors during the warmest times of the day. Schedule any outdoor activity to the cooler parts of the day, which are usually before 10 a.m. and after 6 p.m.
- Stay hydrated by drinking extra water throughout the day - even if you are not thirsty. The Institute of Medicine recommends 13 cups for per day for men and nine for women.
- Wear lose fitting clothing that is light weight and light in color.
- If you are directly in the sun, protect yourself with sunglasses and a hat or umbrella. To protect your skin, use sunblock with SPF 15 or greater while being outdoors.
- Avoid strenuous activity and demanding chores, and take breaks from activity every 15-20 minutes to rest.
- Close the shades in your living area to keep the inside cool.
- Avoid alcoholic or caffeinated beverages, as they can add to dehydration.
- Check on your neighbors and those around you throughout the day.
- Find local shelters that officer respite from the heat. Places like the movie theatre, library and senior centers can offer entertainment in a cool environment. Check your local resources to find designated “cooling centers” near you.
- Watch out for signs of heat stroke exhaustion or other heat related conditions in yourself and others. Symptoms may include weakness, nausea, rapid pulse, and no or heavy sweating.
Ecumen Joins Other Nonprofits In Ziegler Link•Age Longevity Fund Focused on Innovation For An Aging World
New venture fund seeks to bring valuable new products to marketplace.http://www.formychildren.com
Finding a Wiser Way To Say “Older”
When reporter Ina Jaffe started covering aging for National Public Radio, she quickly learned how sensitive older people are about how they are referred to in the media. This prompted NPR to do a survey to find out what older adults want to be called.
Well, it’s certainly not “senior citizen.” Only about 12 percent of those responding considered the term acceptable.
The key finding of the survey is that there is not much enthusiasm for any of the terms commonly used. The winning term — with an anemic 43 percent of the votes — was the plain and simple “older adult.” The terms “elder” and just “senior” (without the “citizen”) each got a pass from about a third of respondents.
In her NPR report on the survey, Jaffe noted: “The category of dislikes had the most enthusiasm. There were about three and a half times more votes cast for terms that didn’t like than for terms that they liked. And I can sum up the overall response by saying that they disliked pretty much everything.”
And that’s exactly what Ronni Bennett, who refers to herself as an “elderblogger,” found in a survey she did in May. People are clear about what they DON’T like but are less definite about what they do like. See Bennett’s post for a list of what’s acceptable and what is despised. The results are similar to NPR’s.
We welcome your comments below.
Ecumen Collaborating To Bring Senior Housing to Downtown Minneapolis
As out of town visitors saw during All Star Week, Minneapolis is a pretty cool place. What it lacks, however, is cool senior housing in a primetime location such as the Mill City Neighborhood on the Mississippi. As a city council member Jacob Frey says, "We need to be a city where people can age in place."
Soon more seniors will be able to live forever in a community that they love with new housing being created by Ecumen and others in the Mill City District. The Minneapolis Star Tribune and KARE-TV provide a closer look:
"Mill Distrcit Project targets seniors, lower incomes"
"Downtown Mpls. looks at affordable senior housing."
Aging in Place: High Demand in Search of Solutions
Survey after survey affirms that the vast majority of people plan to age in their own homes rather than downsizing or moving to retirement communities. And most experts tend to agree it’s a worthy goal — but one that requires a lot of preparation.
As aging in place builds momentum, so does the commentary. In the past couple of weeks, we’ve noted these particularly insightful items:
- The number of households headed by someone age 70 or older will surge by 42 percent from 2015 to 2025, according to a report by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University entitled “The State of The Nation’s Housing.”
- The National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) now estimates that over 70 percent of homeowners doing a remodeling project are planning for the future needs of themselves or their parents. This trend has become so prevalent, that the NAHB established the Certified Aging in Place (CAPS) designation, where select builders and remodelers become certified as an Aging in Place Specialist. A CAPS Specialist is trained in Universal Design Principals, which makes a home more livable for all ages and stages of life.
- Aging in place expert Louis Tennenbaum writes that “aging in place is the best long-term care strategy.” But, he points out, you have to have a well-thought-out strategy for how to make it work.
- Because things can and do go wrong. Howard Gleckman writes at Forbes.com about a new study from University of Minnesota that shows frail seniors who live at home are hospitalized more often. It points to gaps in care that can occur in the home setting.
Clearly, there is a lot to sort out here. Who will bring an integrated “aging in place and community” solution to the marketplace that combines housing design/remodeling, wellness services that help keep people healthy longer, physician visits, financial modeling and planning, and ultimately at-home services, care and engagement?
We invite you to share your thoughts in the “comments” section below.