Augustana Therapy Services and Access Solutions Receive Distinguished Minnesota Aging Services Excellence & Innovation Award at Statewide Convention

Access Solutions, a division of Augustana Therapy Services, Minneapolis, is a 2011 recipient of the distinguished Aging Services of Minnesota Excellence & Innovation Award. The highly competitive award is given to older adult service provider organizations for their excellence in developing new and innovative service delivery programs that benefit their residents and communities. Access Solutions was one of five organizations to receive the award at the Aging Services annual Institute conference, held in Minneapolis Feb. 9-11 for its Longfellow Aging in Place Project in the Building Design, Construction, Energy Conservation or Sustainable Green Design category.

Access Solutions helps the elderly population in the Minneapolis Longfellow neighborhood stay in their homes. The program provides services including home safety and modification assessments by a Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist, project management assistance and funding for low-cost home modification projects through grants provided by the Longfellow Community Council. The program has helped dozens of Longfellow seniors assess their homes for modifications that allow them to remain in their homes safely.

Aging Services of Minnesota is the state’s largest older adult services trade association representing over 700 providers of the complete continuum of services in settings from their homes to congregate housing to assisted living to skilled care centers. Aging Services members collectively work with over 50,000 caregivers throughout the state and serve more than 100,000 seniors each year.

Each year Aging Services member organizations from throughout Minnesota submit nominations for the awards. The awards are presented during the association’s three-day annual conference in Minneapolis, the largest of its kind in the upper Midwest, which draws nearly 4,000 caregivers and organizations in older adult services settings throughout the state.