News from DHS for October 2016

Minnesota Department of Human Services
News from DHS

October 2016

News from DHS archive

A monthly update from the Minnesota Department of Human Services (mn.gov/dhs)


DHS in the community

MSH open house

Carol Olson, executive director of forensic services, talks with reporters during the public open house and 150th anniversary celebration at the Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter on Wednesday, Oct. 12. She and DHS Commissioner Emily Piper also gave remarks during a program that day.

Participants are welcomed to community engagement event

Loren Colman, assistant commissioner of the DHS Continuing Care for Older Adults Administration, interpreter Fadumo Yasuf, facilitator/interpreter Hassan Ibrahim, Abdullahi Sheikh, senior health and wellness coordinator at the Brian Coyle Community Center, and Kari Benson, director of the DHS Aging and Adult Services Division and executive director of the Minnesota Board on Aging welcome Somali elders to a community engagement event on Tuesday, Oct. 11.


19th annual celebration honors 2016 adoptive families

Minnesota’s newest adoptive families, as well as those interested in adoption, will celebrate together Sunday, Nov. 6, during the 19th annual Celebrate Adoption: A Circus of the Heart, from 1 to 4 p.m. at Envision (formerly the Prom Center Event Facility) in Oakdale. Recognizing the 662 children who have been adopted from the foster care system in the past year, the Minnesota Department of Human Services and its partners celebrate and encourage families to consider making a lifelong impact on children through adoption. Celebrate Adoption is open to the public to gather information from state, county, nonprofit and private agency adoption experts. Families will enjoy face painting, pony rides, music, games, crafts and prize drawings. The Minnesota Department of Human Services, MN ADOPT, counties and adoption agencies are sponsoring this year’s celebration.


Minnesota Security Hospital holds open house, marks 150th anniversary

The Minnesota Security Hospital (MSH) in St. Peter celebrated its 150th anniversary Oct. 12 with a public open house and a formal program with remarks from Department of Human Services Commissioner Emily Piper, and tours throughout the day of the nearly complete $56.3-million expansion of the hospital. Construction of the transition housing units and social center are complete. Acute housing units and other areas of the expansion project will be complete at the end of November, with occupancy slated early in January of 2017. More information is in a news release about the open house.


Community Behavioral Health Hospitals mark decade of service

Additional psychiatric beds will open at Minnesota’s state-run mental health hospitals under a plan recently approved by the Legislature and now in the early stages of implementation at the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS). In response to rising demand for inpatient care, DHS will gradually bring the state’s network of Community Behavioral Health Hospitals (CBHHs) up to full operating capacity. The change — part of Gov. Mark Dayton’s budget package approved earlier this year — will add another 12 psychiatric beds systemwide. In addition, 20 beds at the Anoka-Metro Regional Treatment Center (AMRTC) will become available as patients who no longer need treatment in a hospital are treated at a new program that provides a less intensive level of care. More information is in a news release about the hospitals.


41 community-based health programs to receive funding boost

Forty-one community-based mental health programs have received grants designed to help sustain and improve much-needed intensive residential mental health services across the state. Residential crisis services and short-term intensive residential treatment programs received $2.9 million in grants from the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) to improve program stability and sustainability. These services are critical pieces of the continuum of adult mental health services available to Minnesotans with serious mental illness, including support, stabilization and treatment for individuals who may otherwise need inpatient psychiatric hospitalization or following inpatient hospital services. More information is in a news release about the grants.


Longtime Department of Human Services regulator retires

After more than 38 years of state service, Inspector General Jerry Kerber, the first to fill that role for the Department of Human Services, retired Oct. 18. Kerber began his state career in 1978 working with children experiencing emotional disturbance in what was then the Brainerd State Hospital. He then worked in mental health treatment programs in the Stillwater Prison, the Anoka-Metro Regional Treatment Center and the former Oak Terrace Nursing Home in Minnetonka. In 1988, he moved to the DHS Licensing Division where he held a variety of regulatory positions including director for 16 years. Five years ago, Kerber was appointed as the first inspector general for DHS when the Office of Inspector General (OIG) was created, combining several regulatory functions and putting greater emphasis on this work. More information is in a news release about Kerber’s retirement.


New grant funds deeper look at racial inequities in nursing homes

DHS is partnering with the University of Minnesota to study racial inequities in nursing homes under a recently awarded National Institute of Health $1.8 million, five-year grant. The work builds off work Dr. Tetyana Shippee, assistant professor in the University’s School of Public Health, has been doing in recent years under contract with the DHS Nursing Facility Rates and Policy Division. Shippee has used data from the division’s nursing facility quality of life survey for her initial research. In her work under the grant, she will continue to work with Bob Held, director of the Nursing Facility Rates and Policy Division; Val Cooke, division manager; and Antonia Wilcoxon, DHS director of community relations. More information is on the University of Minnesota Academic Health Center's website.


Somali elders participate in DHS, Bush-sponsored community engagement event

Seventy Somali elders talked about their needs for care and desires for community and social activities to live a healthy and safe life in their own homes in one of a series of community engagement sessions underway with members of the racially diverse communities DHS serves. The event was hosted by DHS Oct. 11 at the Brian Coyle Community Center in Minneapolis with funding from a Community Innovation Grant from the Bush Foundation. More information is in a story about the community engagement event.


Parents, others on task force working to improve child support system

The Child Support Task Force, established by the 2016 Minnesota Legislature, has chosen four final members to represent parents, and convened its first meeting Sept. 28. Responsible for making recommendations to DHS, the task force looks to maintain and improve child support guidelines and objectively discusses complex data and policy issues facing the child support system. Parent members include Tammie Campbell, Plymouth; Jimmy Lloyd, Fridley; Jason Smith, North Mankato; and Laura Vang, Brooklyn Center. They will work with representatives from the department, the Minnesota County Attorney’s Association, the Minnesota Family Support Recovery Council, Minnesota Court Administration, the Minnesota Legal Services Coalition, Minnesota Native American Tribal Child Support Programs, the Minnesota State Bar Association, the Minnesota House of Representatives and the Minnesota Senate. The task force will meet three more times this year, and quarterly in 2017, and submit a report with recommendations to the Minnesota Legislature in February 2018. More information on the task force, its members and upcoming meetings is on the department’s Child Support Task Force page.


Gov. Dayton’s proclamation recognizes financial workers, case aides

Gov. Mark Dayton proclaimed Wednesday, Oct. 19, as County and Tribal Financial Worker and Case Aide Day in Minnesota. In his proclamation (PDF), the governor stated that they are “dedicated to providing outstanding service to the people of Minnesota through their administration of public assistance programs” and that they are “responsible for the prudent expenditure of millions of dollars annually and must meet high standards of job performance in determining eligibility of public assistance.” Hundreds of county and tribal financial workers and case aides across the state support Minnesotans by administering public assistance programs and continually expanding their knowledge of federal and state legislative changes to programs. They help families establish eligibility for programs and are responsible for millions of dollars of program expenditures.


County Human Service Cost Report is available online

The annual Minnesota County Human Service Cost Report for Calendar Year 2015 (PDF) is available on DHS’ public website. The report, compiled by the Financial Operations Division, contains statewide and county-specific costs and revenue shares for economic support, health and social service programs.


New reports examine services for people with hearing loss

DHS recently received two studies that look at the needs of Minnesotans who are deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing and how well they are being met by services of the department’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Division. The first report (PDF) presents findings of consumer surveys, stakeholder surveys and town hall meetings and makes recommendations regarding next steps to improve the division’s services. The second report (PDF) studied whether the Telephone Equipment Distribution (TED) program is meeting communications needs of Minnesotans who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing or who have communication challenges due to speech or physical disabilities. This report includes recommendations for updating the TED program. DHS plans to use findings of the studies to prepare a report to the 2017 Minnesota Legislature on the future of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Division and its services.


Comments sought on community integration plan

DHS is asking stakeholders in the disability services and the aging and adult services systems — including people receiving services, lead agencies, case managers and advocates — to ensure that people receiving services know they have the opportunity to comment on the revised statewide transition plan (PDF) for the Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) rule. The statewide transition plan communicates how Minnesota proposes to implement the rule, which says people must receive publicly paid long-term services and supports in the most integrated setting and have full access to community living. The comment period is open until 4 p.m. Nov. 3, 2016. People who receive services can provide feedback by emailing hcbs.settings@state.mn.us.


Fact sheets updated during October

Fact sheets about DHS programs were updated during October:


In case you missed it

Links to some news articles about DHS during October:


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