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From the Executive Director:
Diverse services for diverse people
A number of years back the Minnesota Board on
Aging (MBA) established a special committee to assist it in better meeting the
needs of Minnesota’s Indian elder and minority communities. From that point
forward the members of that committee have helped the board think through its
programs and services as to their effectiveness and impact on these various
ethnic groups.
Special outreach programs, ethnic meals,
special day service programs and the like have developed and flourished. The
jointly sponsored Indian elder health prevention program, Wisdom Steps, is now
nationally recognized as an approach to reaching out and serving Indian elders
through their own self-operated and directed program. We need to do more, but we
have come a long way in a few short years by concentrating our efforts and
focusing on people’s needs and preferences.
Today the board has new challenges in thinking
through its obligations to meet the needs of all older Minnesotans in other
emerging areas: new immigrant groups, aging persons with developmental
disabilities, and people with chronic illnesses, including those with HIV/AIDS.
As in the past we will reach out and partner
with new groups and individuals to ensure that we provide support and assistance
to all aging Minnesotans and do so in a manner most acceptable and useful to
them. Our challenge is the same as before – to ensure that all older persons
and their families have the access to the services and supports they need to
live independent and productive lives engaged with their families and their
communities.
– Jim Varpness, Executive Director
Minnesota Board on Aging
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