Careers in Aging: LeadingAge MN Members Lead the Way in Raising Awareness, Making Connections

Posted on March 6, 2019 by Jodi Boyne

It’s Careers in Aging Week! This is the perfect time to highlight three LeadingAge Minnesota members – Augustana Regent, Eventide and Ecumen -- who received Stars Among Us awards last month for their work to proactively address our field’s workforce challenges through innovative partnerships that will expose and recruit people to the rewarding, valued careers in aging services. 

Augustana Regent has created a collaborative partnership with the Apply Valley High School E3STEM program. The E3STEM program is designed to connect students with a variety of experiences in the science, technology, engineering and math fields to help prepare them for post-secondary education and careers in the STEM field. To help attract students to participate in the program, Apple Valley High School has an agreement with Dakota County Technical College and Inver Hills Community College for students to receive credit for college courses while attending high school. The E3STEM program covers the cost of the six-week CNA course and the CNA exam. Read more here.

Eventide has deepened its long-standard relationship with Concordia College in Moorhead by teaching an integral component of the Long-Term Care Administrator curriculum – Regulation Management. Eventide staff teach 10 of the class sessions on its campus, which allows students to receive a real-life perspective on how regulations impact caregiving as well as provide Eventide staff the opportunity to share their experience and knowledge. Read more here.

Ecumen started the Senior Care Excellence program based on learnings from its Ecumen Scholars program, which provides fellowships, internships and clinical rotations at Ecumen sites to more than 500 students in the aging services field. During that program, Ecumen learned from college faculty that more training was needed for instructors in long-term care. This desire came at a time when more and more nurses will have considerable interactions with seniors no matter where they work due to the state’s rapidly-growing aging population. Ecumen partnered with nursing faculty statewide and with Minnesota State Mankato’s School of Nursing to design Senior Care Excellence: Enhancing Your Clinical Toolbox – Best Practices in Geriatric Care for Faculty in Transitional Care/Long Term Care. Read more here.