Central Minnesota Council On Aging Inc

The senior linkage line is a service of the minnesota board on aging in partnership with minnesota's area agencies on aging. The senior linkage line provides free help to older adults who may need support remaining in or returning to their home. Senior linkage line staff work with individuals and/or caregivers to understand the person's needs and preferences, help connect them with services in their community and follow-up to support long-term success. In 2023, 20,816 information and assistance sessions were conducted over the telephone or in person when requested to fully assist a consumer or caregiver.

Cmcoa 2024 development goals/strategies:- age friendly-cmcoa was a designated age friendly minnesota technical assistance provider. Led various age friendly related events/discussion and provided technical assistance to grantees.- provided one on one technical assistance to three age friendly mn community grantees.- five age-friendly community of learning sessions offered information and guidance in planning, development, implementation, and sustainability of programs. Close to seventy participants. - hosted an in person regional exchange in conjunction with the minnesota statewide age friendly conference. With close to forty in attendance. The event offered opportunities for group discussions of the needs/wishes of the community. The information was reported back to the age friendly mn council to assist with development of their multi-sector age friendly work plan. - partnered with rainbow health and brainerd area and st. Cloud area pride committees to offer senior accessible lgbtq+ events in conjunction with their larger pride event. - partnered with dancing sky aaa and rainbow health to offer a virtual and in-person (sartell mn) training for working with lgbtq older adults. The training engaged senior service providers and other community based organizations who work with older people. - development of profile of older adults report. Reports were sent to city/county leaders with follow-up outreach to offer presentations to community leaders/groups. Presented to county health and human services staff, county commissioners and community advisory members for the agency.- dementia related initiatives and education. - provided guidance to current, new, and re-engaged dementia friendly communities.- dementia friends information session at the minnesota rural electric association- targeted for rural utility call staff. Forty-three trained specifically in handling calls with customers who may have memory issues. - dementia friends champion training throughout the cmcoa region including at cross lake lutheran church in crow wing county, st. Gabriel's medical center in little falls and lakes area act on alzheimer- southern chisago county and forest lake area, and a virtual session. In all trained thirty-eight new dementia champions.dementia friends workforce training to twenty-six students at central lakes college, brainerd. - evidence based health programs and evidence informed classes: heathy aging coordinator lead and/or coordinated the evidence-based health programs and development team assisted with outreach to coordinate collaboration amongst community groups. Classes included: diabetes prevention program- (dpp); mindful presence: compassionate care for self and others; guided autobiography; tai ji quan moving for better balance; chronic disease self-management program (cdsmp); stay active & independent for life (sail; coaching for hypertension and pearls coach (program to encourage active, rewarding lives).- cmcoa healthy aging coordinator trained to be a program to encourage active, rewarding lives (pearls) coach. Developed partnership with whitney senior center and centracare health served as a supervising entity and offered referrals to engage older patients in pearls. Twelve individuals were served with pearls. - pearls cohort- developed a collaboration between cmcoa, horizon health, knute nelson, crow wing energized and crow wing human services in cass, crow wing, todd, morrison, and wadena counties. Fifteen new pearls coaches trained. One area person has become master trained to be capable of offering in-person coaches training if needed in the cmcoa region. - between trainees and participants overall the classes served well over 300. Social isolation, loneliness, and community engagement:- using the ucla 3 item loneliness scale developed the together well (tw) toolkit. Engaged twelve providers pilot the toolkit in early 2024. The tw toolkit assists providers with identifying and helping clients to develop an action plan to combat loneliness and social isolation. - contracted with lyricality, a local artist group that offers community group sessions bringing people together to discuss needs and build connections through poetry. The team conducted listening session with nineteen participants on needs for social engagement participants included somali and latinx community members. - as part of age flourishing st. Cloud, participated in planning and leading an interdisciplinary project with tech and apollo high schools in st. Cloud area on ageism and social connections.- coalition to end social isolation (cesil)- led the age flourishing st. Cloud social & community engagement committee. Incorporated the work of the coalition to end social isolation. Cmcoa also hosted a workshop a roadmap for developing a coalition to end social isolation and loneliness to provide an overview of the work of cesil activities, best practices and lessons learned. Incorporating data gathered from centracare health social isolation/loneliness questions asked of patients as part of their social determinants of health. - men's shed- participated in three conference sessions highlighting the men's shed programs including minnesota men's shed conference- international speakers from ireland and scotland, presentation on mental health for men and the men's shed, and at the minnesota gerontological society conference (mgs) conference.robotic pet distribution- continued program to place robotic pets to older adults and caregivers- the project was very successful, and all pets were distributed. Cmcoa developed a process for community members to give back by donating to the robotic pet fund. Workforce:- partnered with propel nonprofit to offer a true program costs workshop. The thirty-five participants from nonprofit agencies were provided information and guidance for understanding the costs of program development implementation and development of a nonprofit budget. - partnered with crow wing county aging services to host a virtual home and community based services (hcbs). Waiver training providing an overview of the hcbs waiver programs and services to over 140 participants from across the state.- provided a half day training to twenty-seven dental hygienist students and six faculty at st cloud technical college. The training provided valuable insights and practical skills to prepare the students for careers working with older adults. The sessions topics included dementia friends, ageism, aging 101: understanding the basics and the aging demographics.- grant technical assistance-developed outreach materials to engage community providers and/or collaboratives to understand the various grant opportunities such as, older americans act- title iii, mn dhs live well at home, mba dementia grant, age friendly mn community grants, mndhs grant, equity, access and research (gear) division provider capacity rural and underserved communities grant and aarp community challenge grants.