Shelley Kendrick Joins Select Thought Leaders on the International Council on Active Aging's COVID-19 Senior Living Task Force
Shelley Kendrick joins select thought leaders and prominent industry associations from across North America on the International Council on Active Aging's (ICAA) COVID-19 Senior Living Task Force. With a focus on the health, safety, and quality of life of residents and staff, the Task Force will develop, in conjunction with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), guidance for senior living organizations as they plan when and how they will safely reopen. Shelley said, "I was honored to be asked to join this task force and help find solutions to assist those we serve during and after COVID."
Ecumen Named Among 6 Senior Living Providers to Watch in 2020
Ecumen: Leading the way in nonprofit innovation
February 3, 2020 | Published by Senior Housing News | Article by Chuck Sudo
Although nonprofit senior living providers have shown an appetite for growth through affiliation in recent years, they have lost market share to their for-profit counterparts, who have greater willingness to assume risk for the sake of growth and innovation.
One exception to the rule is Ecumen, which has embraced several of the strategies for-profits have used to build scale. The Shoreview, Minnesota-based provider has a portfolio of 30 communities in eight states totaling 2,109 units and ranked 33rd on the 2019 LZ 200 list of top nonprofit providers. More important, Ecumen has transformed .... [Click here to view the full article]
Zvago St. Anthony Park Wins Top Real Estate Development Honor
Zvago St. Anthony Park Wins Top Real Estate Development Honor
Morshed Alam Named Ecumen Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
Morshed (Mo) Alam, has been named Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Ecumen.Read more
Ecumen CEO Emeritus Kathryn Roberts Receives Top Career Achievement Award
Ecumen CEO Emeritus Kathryn Roberts received the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal’s 2019 Career Achievement Award at the 2019 Women in Business luncheon and expo May 23, 2019.
Kathryn accepted the award before the more than 900 attendees, saying, “I am especially proud to be rounding out my career at a time when so many more women – a room full of them here today – are leading, succeeding and, most importantly, making this world a better place – because we care deeply about what comes after us.”
The May 24 edition of the Business Journal featured Kathryn on the cover, and the newspaper produced a tribute video from her friends and colleagues talking about her stellar career. You can click on the video below, or go to this link.
Congratulations Kathryn, and thank you for your leadership at Ecumen!
Melanie Sullivan To Join Ecumen as Senior Vice President, Chief People Officer
Melanie (Mel) Sullivan, Ed.D., has been named Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer at Ecumen, effective April 1.
Ecumen Among Top 5 Senior Living Operators in the Twin Cities
Ecumen is recognized as one of Twin Cities' top five Largest Senior Living Operators by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.
Ecumen CEO Emeritus Kathryn Roberts Among McKnight's 2019 Women of Distinction Winners
Kathryn Roberts, Ecumen CEO Emeritus, has been recognized as a top leader in the field of long-term care and senior care. Roberts was named to the Hall of Honor in the nationwide 2019 McKnight’s Women of Distinction awards.
Ecumen Receives Innovation Award for Its ‘Senior Care Excellence’ Training Programs
Ecumen has received a “Stars Among Us Innovation Award” from LeadingAge Minnesota for its Senior Care Excellence program designed to help reduce the shortage of long-term care nurses in rural Minnesota.
Ecumen’s Senior Care Excellence program provides enhanced training for nursing school faculty focused on older adult care. Ecumen partnered with nursing faculty statewide and with Minnesota State Mankato’s School of Nursing to design a workshop called “Senior Care Excellence: Enhancing Your Clinical Toolbox – Best Practices in Geriatric Care for Faculty in Transitional Care/Long Term Care.” The sessions, conducted by Minnesota State nursing faculty and Ecumen nursing staff in Mankato and Duluth, helped educators refresh their knowledge and skills in aging services and bring current best practices into their classrooms and classroom settings.
The workshops grew out of the Ecumen Scholars program, which provides fellowships, internships and clinical rotations at Ecumen sites to more than 500 students in the aging services field. With that experience, 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.
Gayle Kvenvold, President and CEO, LeadingAge Minnesota, the state association of senior housing and services providers, presented Ecumen with the award at the association’s Institute and Expo in Saint Paul February 6. “The Innovation Award honors programs that transform and enhance the experience of aging,” she said. “With a rapidly growing aging population in Minnesota, Ecumen recognized a need to bring a more in-depth perspective of the aging services field into college nursing programs that have focused almost exclusively on acute care training. The Senior Care Excellence program is shaping the future of aging services by breaking down stereotypes, winning hearts and minds, and improving the quality and accessibility of care for Minnesota’s seniors across the state.”
“Much of the growth in nursing jobs will be outside the hospital setting due to changing demographics and economic realities of healthcare delivery,” said Brett Anderson, Ecumen Vice President of Nursing. “Positive experiences during clinical rotation and confident, quality input on geriatric topics are necessary to attract graduates to the growing field of older adult care. How nursing faculty present our industry to students is pivotal. We strongly believe that partnering with faculty today will lead to student nurses choosing our industry and helping all providers deliver quality resident care in the future.”
Anderson said planning is underway for additional workshops in the summer of 2019. Senior Care Excellence workshop topics include enhancing clinical skills, improving quality in long-term care, and promoting critical thinking as well as focusing on the difference between dementia and delirium and end of life, hospice and palliative care.
Ecumen received its Innovation Award at the LeadingAge Minnesota Institute, the state’s largest and most comprehensive aging services conference attended by more than 4,000 older adult services professionals in all aspects of older adult services. Pictured (l to r): Nancy Stratman, Chair, LeadingAge Minnesota Board of Directors; Kim Kvale, RN, Ecumen Nurse Leader; Sonya DeSmith, RN, Ecumen Regional Nurse Consultant; Brett Anderson, RN, Ecumen Vice President of Nursing Services; Sara Sterling, LeadingAge Minnesota Awards & Recognition Committee Chair.