Elder Voice's Kris Sundberg speaks with State of Reform regarding the need to coordinate initiatives aiming to help older Minnesotans live healthier lives.
By State of Reform | August 15, 2024
Advocates discussed their support for a proposed department for community aging in Minnesota during a Legislative Task Force on Aging meeting on Wednesday.
Kristine Sundberg, executive director of Elder Voice Advocates, said a department of community aging is needed to coordinate initiatives aiming to help older Minnesotans live healthier lives.
“The reason we’re here today is to address a critical issue that stems from deeply-ingrained ageist attitudes in our society,” Sundberg said. “While it is commendable that our highest priority is ensuring the wellbeing of our children, this focus starkly contrasts with the significantly-diminished attention and care given to our elders and people with disabilities.”
The state has established numerous safety nets to protect youth—including the newly-created Minnesota Department of Youth, Children, and Families—but older residents are often left vulnerable, forgotten, and underserved, Sundberg said.
“Elder Voice Advocates was born out of necessity; a response to the widespread abuse and neglect that too many of our citizens experience in long-term care settings,” she said. “This is not just about subpar care. It’s about the unnecessary suffering and needless deaths that occur because our current systems failed to protect some of our most vulnerable citizens. No one deserves to end their life in such a manner. Everyone desires to age in the community of their choice, surrounded by the supports they need to live with dignity and independence.”
The state’s current governmental infrastructure is fragmented, siloed, and ultimately ineffective in addressing the unique needs of its aging population, Sundberg said.
“We can no longer afford to ignore this issue. Minnesota is facing a rapidly-aging population, and our current systems are not equipped to handle this demographic shift. It’s time for Minnesota to take a bold step forward by establishing a department for community aging. This department would be dedicated to planning and coordinating efforts across the state to ensure our elders can live their later years in safety, health, and with the respect they deserve.”— Sundberg
A department for community aging could develop comprehensive strategies to meet the needs of the state’s aging population, bridge gaps in services, and ensure all Minnesotans—regardless of age—can live with dignity and security, Sundberg said.
“We recognize that state agencies, provider organizations, and institutions may be in favor of maintaining the status quo, or making only incremental adjustments,” she said. “However, this approach is inadequate and unjust. We urge you to demonstrate the courage of conviction to advocate for the creation of a dedicated state agency that prioritizes the wellbeing of our older adults, ensuring that we finally receive the attention and care we deserve.”
Olmsted County Commissioner Gregory Wright also advocated for a department on community aging, and a timetable for establishing one.
“What I have learned is the enormity of the demographic (and) the reality of aging is too much for many people to comprehend,” Wright said. “That includes many of the legislators I have talked to, and that’s another reason why this committee—who knows the most about the impact of aging—has to recommend that we establish this department.”
Wright said Olmsted County has gaps in care for its aging population, particularly in housing, transportation, medical and dental insurance, the healthcare workforce, coordination, and state leadership.
“A siloed approach is doomed to fail. I know that from the bureaucracy I work in. And the more I can get departments to act together, the better they are. If we use the same approach to fight a forest fire, as we currently do for the aging population, the legislature will just ask the elder agencies to bring a lawn sprinkler to put out the fire. Unless you have a plan, (and) focus your efforts to create that plan, this is what we’re doomed to do; use sprinklers to put out a forest fire. We have to have a department and a plan to create a department. And that’s the leadership this committee can provide.”— Wright
Rep. Natalie Zeleznikar (R-Duluth) expressed concern about the potential to acquire enough funding to make the proposed department on community aging successful.
“I’m not opposed to the concept of a department,” Zeleznikar said. “I just have real concerns (that) if we created a department without adequate funding, that is just rearranging the chairs in a different way. If that happens, and there’s not adequate funding for what the goal is for elder care, we (will) be disappointed.
We do have systems in place. To assume we don’t have systems in place is not an accurate reflection. We have some phenomenal people in the Minnesota Department of Health and (Department of Human Services) that have been working for decades on systems. So I think we need to be mindful of local input from older Minnesotans to design and weigh that balance between how much we want governed through a state agency versus county agencies. Should the state be the governing entity, or should it go to the counties?”
Those interested in learning more about aging initiatives in the state can register to attend the 2024 Minnesota State of Reform Health Policy Conference, which will be held on Sept. 5 at the Hyatt Regency Bloomington in Minneapolis. A “Transforming Aging in Minnesota” panel will be held at 1 p.m.