2017 MNRAAA Annual Report – Board Chair’s and Executive Director Letter

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Dear Readers:
Welcome to the 2017 Minnesota River Area Agency on Aging® Annual Report. Bob and I hope you will enjoy reading a few of MNRAAA’s highlights from last year.
Beginning in May, board members and staff participated in strategic planning, facilitated by Aurora Consulting. During the planning process, we revised our mission statement, developed a vision
statement and determined our strategic directions for the next three years (read more about Strategic Planning here).
Due to the expansion of the Return to Community initiative, we hired several additional staff and outgrew our space in the Mankato office. Fortunately, we could move our conference room to a space across from our office and use the vacated space for staff.
We said good-bye to three of our board members: Amy Wilde, Jane Baldwin and Dr. Tim Bachenberg. Their insight and dedication to improving the lives of older adults and caregivers will
be missed.
Even though we know we’ll encounter challenges during 2018, we look forward to continuing our efforts to provide advocacy, information, resources, and assistance so that older adults can maintain the lifestyle of their choice.
Keep reading if you’d like to learn about additional 2017 highlights. And, if you haven’t joined us on social media or signed up to receive our newsletter, we invite you to go to page three for our contact information.
Sincerely,
Linda Giersdorf, Executive Director
Robert Roesler, Board Chair
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“Exciting” and “Fast-Paced” Summertime

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Many of you are probably familiar with the lyrics from the song Summertime, composed by George Gershwin in 1934 for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. The first line of the song is Summertime and the livin’ is easy. Well, it’s summertime, but I’m not sure I’d describe the “livin” at MNRAAA as “easy” – “exciting” and “fast-paced” would be more appropriate.

Since our last newsletter, staff and board members participated in two Strategic Planning Retreats, facilitated by Aurora Consulting. Stay tuned for an upcoming issue of MNRAAA news to learn about our new mission statement, vision and strategic directions.

Staff is busy with launching age-friendly community projects in Porter and Kerkhoven. For additional information and community pictures, check out the Age-Friendly article.

MNRAAA participated in the launch of Juniper, previously known as the “Healthy Living As You Age” initiative. More information is included on here.

And, MNRAAA is in the process of hiring several new staff in response to the Return to Community Expansion, approved by the Minnesota legislature. Effective July 1, 2017, Return to Community expanded to include several new targeted groups at risk of spending down to Medical Assistance. We will be highlighting our new staff in the next issue of MNRAAA news.

I hope you will enjoy reading about the exciting happenings at MNRAAA. Feel free to contact us if you have questions or would like additional information about any of the articles in our latest issue of MNRAAA news.

To read the latest issue of MNRAAA news, visit: MNRAAA news

  • Linda
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MNRAAA Board Appoints New Members

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Two new appointments were made to the Board of Directors. Jane Baldwin, RN is from Madison and is employed at the Appleton Hospital and Clinic. Candace Fenske is from Madelia and is the CEO at the Madelia Community Hospital and Clinic.
On October 27, MNRAAA held orientation for Board members and staff in Redwood Falls.
Welcome!!

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