News

Gov. Tim Walz issued a proclamation naming Aug. 14 as Lawrence Massa Appreciation Day in Minnesota in honor of Massa’s distinguished career in advance of his retirement Sept. 6. Massa has been the president and CEO of MHA for the past 11 years and served as chief executive officer of Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar from 1994 to 2008.  

A recent article in Senior Housing News highlights that the “dots aren’t being connected” in senior living to get innovation past the pilot stage to make a true impact. 

Mentor programs offer an important opportunity for staff to develop positive relationships, interact with friends at work, receive the peer support needed to succeed in a job, and increase meaning and purpose in their day. Beyond that, mentor programs have been proven to positively impact team member retention and satisfaction in all departments.  

“A person’s name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”  -Dale Carnegie. Yet one thing we hear periodically on staff satisfaction surveys is, “my supervisor doesn’t even know my name.” 

As first reported by McKnight’s Senior Living, the 2019 Milliman Long Term Care Insurance Survey shows average individual long-term care insurance claim amounts for care in assisted living settings are much higher than claim amounts for home care or care in nursing homes.  

Whether you hang a whiteboard in a break room, create an online forum on your organization’s intranet, or establish a staff-focused Facebook page, consider giving staff a modern forum to express their ideas, suggestions and opinions. 

Hosting a focus group allows leaders to hear from a select group of staff about a specific topic.   

Mark your calendars for the August Assisted Living/Home Care Nurse Leader Network (ALNET)!  The ALNET regional meetings in June drew over 100 participants, demonstrating the growing interest in the meetings, the value of the content being presented and networking opportunities for nurse leaders.

The November 2019 implementation and compliance date for Phase III of the Requirements of Participation is fast approaching. Are you ready for the new and additional training requirements in Cultural Competence and Trauma-Informed Care or the new and strengthened language around person-centered care and abuse prevention?  

Anxiety is one of the leading causes of hospital readmissions and crosses many diagnoses. A new toolkit developed on behalf of the Lake Superior Quality Improvement Network (QIN) will help transitional care units and home care agencies prepare staff to mitigate anxiety symptoms and offer integrated therapy programs to alleviate anxiety and improve outcomes.  

Growing demand for adult day services is putting new expectations on providers, including a need to serve people with more medical needs -- and providers, including those in Minnesota, are rising to the challenge.  

Minnesota Hospital Association (MHA) President and CEO Lawrence “Lorry” J. Massa, M.S., FACHE, has announced that he will retire in September 2019. Massa has led the association, which represents 141 hospitals and health systems, for nearly 11 years.  

Promote engagement and interactive learning by hosting a learning circle with a variety of teams in your organization.  

Out-of-pocket nursing home costs grew as much as 30% between 2005 and 2010, according to new research from Georgetown University as reported by McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.  

Are you doing great work to reduce the incidence of healthcare-associated infections or combat antibiotic resistance? If so, CHAIN would like to hear about it and recognize your excellent work with its 2019 Award of Excellence. Examples of great work include:  

Have you listened to the latest Workforce Innovators Podcast? The newest episode, featuring Sue Misiorski, Vice President of Workforce Innovations at PHI in New York, focuses on creating career paths for nursing and home health workers.  

Is it time to move beyond your checkbox-driven orientation to an engaging onboarding experience? 

The LeadingAge Minnesota Foundation Golf Fundraiser takes place July 30 at Prestwick Golf Club in Woodbury. Sell-out is expected. Our tournament is already 1/3 full, so register early to ensure you are part of the fun. Golfer registration deadline is July 8. 

OnShift and Gallup have both recently published articles on the “Gig Economy,” a concept that has grown in popularity in today’s workforce, providing an opportunity for people to work multiple “side gigs” as opposed to a single, full-time job.  

Engaging with your staff is an essential way to empower your team, promote a sense of value and to retain your staff. We know that staff who are engaged have higher job satisfaction, show enthusiasm for their work and improve outcomes within your organization.
LeadingAge Minnesota offers a free, web-based toolkit to help boost your ability to engage with staff.