December 4, 2021
The first book signing of Rewriting Marguerite was held today in an intimate little coffee shop, Limu Coffee, in New Brighton, Minnesota. Friends, neighbors, and community members bought books, had them inscribed, and savored Gedam Azeze’s delicious coffee concoctions and hot chocolate. Thanks to all for the fabulous support.
November 30, 2021
Today Rewriting Marguerite becomes available through bookstores and on Amazon. I hope you will consider supporting your local bookstores. (Rewriting Marguerite; ISBN: 978-0-578-94873-7)
August 1, 2021
After two plus years of rule making, assisted living licensure in Minnesota is finally launched. Regulatory standards for housing and services are now in effect for assisted living facilities and assisted living facilities with dementia care. This is a major milestone in promoting quality care for our loved ones in Minnesota facilities.
Complete information can be found at http://www.health.state.mn.us/assistedliving.
May 22, 2019
Yahoo! Today Governor Tim Walz signed the elder care protection package into law. Now Minnesota joins every other state in requiring licensure of assisted living facilities. Among the many reforms is improvement in the standards for dementia care. This package is a great first step. Expect advocates to return to the Capitol next year to address other elder care concerns, such as forced arbitration and private right of action.
May 19, 2019
Tonight the Senate passed the assisted living licensure bill, HF 90, with a vote of 66-1. It was returned to the House where it was re-passed as amended by a vote of 125-6. Now, on to the Governor!
May 17, 2019
In January advocates for vulnerable adults returned to the Capitol with renewed efforts to seek legislative reforms in elder care. Over four months have passed and the 2019 Minnesota Legislature is nearing the end of session and HF 90 with vulnerable adults protections is awaiting final adoption. Stakeholders (Minnesota Dept. of Health, AARP, Elder Voice Family Advocates, industry representatives) have compromised on the language. If passed, the legislation would require licensure of assisted living facilities. (Minnesota is the only state that does not require licensure.) Other protections address standards of care, retaliation for filing reports of abuse, arbitrary discharge and surveillance cameras. The House has passed the bill, but there has been little movement in the Senate. Time is running out. The legislature must adjourn on May 20.
May 23, 2018
My commentary on Minnesota’s legislative inaction on vulnerable abuse protection was published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune opinion page today. It is also available online:
May 21, 2018
Minnesota Legislative Update
The legislative session is over, and here is the sad update on vulnerable adult legislation: On the second to the last day of session Senator Lourey (DFL-Kerrick) made one last impassioned plea for a stand-alone bill to address elder abuse (see link below). Nonetheless, woefully inadequate legislation on this issue ended up as Article 27 of a 989-page Omnibus Supplemental Budget Bill, which could not be amended. When it came to a vote, it passed with 35 Yes and 32 No.
I expect that Governor Dayton will veto the omnibus bill as he promised to do if eldercare and opioid legislation were not carved out into stand-alone bills. His decision will come in about two weeks. (He has promised to read all 989 pages first.)
Senator Lourey has been a stellar advocate for elders. Early in the legislative session he authored a strong vulnerable adult bill that was co-authored by many senators from both parties, but his bill died from lack of a hearing. The House companion bill suffered the same fate. The lobbyists won, elders in long-term care lost. Meanwhile, 400 vulnerable adult complaints/week arrive at the MN Dept. of Health’s Office of Facility Complaint.
The good news is that the Elder Abuse Consumer Coalition, consisting of AARP Minnesota, Alzheimer’s Association Minnesota-North Dakota Chapter, Elder Voice Family Advocates, Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, and Minnesota Elder Justice Center, is organized, strong, and determined, and certainly not going away anytime soon.
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Minnesota Senate DFL (@SenateDFL) |
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.@TonyLourey: “The vulnerable adult protection package in this bill actually moves us backward on this issue…it takes away consumer protections…an industry win, a consumer loss.” #mnleg
youtube.com/watch?v=b-43Ko… |
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March 14, 2018
This morning I met again with legislators, this time Minnesota representatives on the House Subcommittee on Aging and Long-Term Care Policy. My testimony was a repeat of the one given to the Senate Committee on February 21 with a renewed emphasis on systemic failures of long-term care that diminished Mom’s quality-of-life. Thanks to the work done by Governor Dayton’s Consumer Workgroup (made up of people from AARP, Elder Voice Family Advocates; Alzheimer’s Association, Minnesota-North Dakota Chapter; Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid; and Minnesota Elder Justice Center), elder abuse in Minnesota long-term care settings is being addressed. And, people are listening. Now, I wait to see how the Minnesota Legislature will advocate for those in long-term care.
February 21, 2018
This morning I shared a snapshot of my mother’s eldercare story with Minnesota senators on the Aging and Long-Term Care Committee. My testimony spoke to the day-to-day failures of our long-term care system, especially for people with dementia. Many other families presented horrific tales of abuse today. Mom’s story is not horrific. Nonetheless, I feel it is bone-chilling, because it represents life-as-usual for many, many people at the ends of their lives, even in the best of facilities. Person-centered care becomes the first casualty in understaffed buildings. And, people with no ability to speak or report become extremely vulnerable. I am grateful that policymakers and purse string holders listened today.
March, 2017
VERY SAD NEWS!!!!
Dr. Robert Kane, Minnesota Chair of Aging and Long-Term Care at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health, passed away on March 6, 2017. As his obituary states, he was “a distinguished researcher, prolific author and dedicated advocate for better management of chronic illness and improved delivery of long-term care.” I consider myself privileged to be among the many recipients of his encouragement and mentorship.
He unknowingly offered me a lifeline in 2005. That summer, eight months before my mother would ultimately pass away, I listened to an interview with Dr. Kane on Minnesota Public Radio. I describe the experience in Singing Solo:
Then one morning I turned on Minnesota Public Radio to an interview in progress about the failures of long-term care. It took me a few minutes to grasp that the interviewee had written a book with his sister about the challenges the two of them had faced as advocates for their mother… His story was my story in so many ways. Different mothers in different facilities in different states, yet parallel experiences, similar challenges, the same shocking disappointments.
The interviewee was Dr. Robert Kane. His book validated everything that had been twisting in my gut. What reassurance there was in knowing that our family’s experience was not simply an aberration, something to be brushed aside as Murphy’s Law. How comforting to realize that I shared common frustrations and disappointments with a renowned, highly educated and well-positioned authority.
A strong measure of hopelessness, however, accompanied this relief. No, it shouldn’t be this way. Yet, it was. I had been witnessing this failure for years, and what I heard with resounding firmness from my kitchen radio added clear confirmation. Furthermore, hearing someone speak about the realities of long- term care heightened my anxiety, especially since at that moment Mom was still living in that reality. Yet, on that morning as Dr. Kane enlightened the radio’s audience, he also nurtured the doggedness in my core, and I was spurred on to continue my daily advocacy for my mother.
I contacted Dr. Kane after Mom passed and I had written her eldercare story. He read my writings, encouraged me, nudged, critiqued, opened up networking possibilities, and ultimately wrote a blurb for the back cover of Singing Solo: In Search of a Voice for Mom. I will forever be grateful for his investment in me and my mother’s story.
Now, each time I am asked to give a book presentation on Singing Solo, I also introduce audiences to Dr. Kane’s book, The Good Caregiver: A One-of-a-Kind Compassionate Resource for Anyone Caring for an Aging Loved One. It is a unique and valuable resource and one of the many ways he continues to help people age with grace and dignity.
April 2015
I am excited about the opportunity to share my family’s eldercare story at the CARING FOR A PERSON WITH MEMORY LOSS CONFERENCE, Saturday, May 30, 2015, at the University of Minnesota, Mayo Memorial Auditorium.
Other speakers and their topics include Susan McPherson, PhD (Communication Across the Stages of Memory Loss), Paula Duncan from Park Nicollet Health Services (The Hospital Elder Life Program), and Deborah Richman from Alzheimer’s Association Minnesota-North Dakota (Putting the P.C. in Person Centered Care).
This one-day conference is a great educational event that offers information, support and education for adult children, spouses, parents, community care providers, and other individuals concerned with caring for persons with memory loss.
There is no cost for the conference for participants who do not want contact hours, but preregistration is required.
Please share this information with friends/family members who are concerned about memory issues with their loved ones.
For information or to register visit: http://nursing.umn.edu/memoryloss
November 2013
I feel very honored to be included in the new book, Unlocking the Secrets of Successful Women, by Joan Kennedy. Joan has collected stories from 40 different Minnesota women who offer tips and strategies for achieving goals and living dreams.
In Joan’s book I describe my passionate determination to write Singing Solo: In Search of a Voice for Mom, a memoir about my mother’s experience with dementia and the failures of long-term care. Encouragement and expertise from mentors, friends, family, and a supportive publisher proved critical during my efforts to turn a story lived into a story published and finally shared with others concerned about eldercare.
There is power in a story told honestly and clearly. I use Mom’s story to stress the need for advocacy for those like her who have lost their voices to dementia.
I am excited to see Joan’s book and read the other 39 stories.
Learn more about Joan Kennedy’s new book:
website: secretsofsuccessfulwomen.wordpress.com/
release date: November 13, 2013
ISBN -10: 0960192069 ISBN-13: 978-0960192069
JacLynn Herron 
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