LTSS Newsletter—September 2021

American Indian/Alaska Native Long-Term Services and Supports SOLUTIONS Technical assistance for culturally competent care September 2021   LTSS Technical Assistance Center Visit the online LTSS TA Center for videos, best practices, toolkits, a resource library, and a step-by-step planning roadmap.     Protecting the health of nursing home residents COVID-19 vaccines play a crucial role in protecting nursing home residents from hospitalization and death. To that end, CMS now requires nursing homes to report COVID-19 vaccination rates for both residents and staff. For a list of every nursing home’s recent resident and staff vaccination rates, visit CMS’s COVID-19 Nursing Home Data webpage. Other helpful resources on the webpage include: Charts showing nursing home vaccination rates by state A COVID-19 nursing home data dictionary (PDF, 585 KB, 22 pp) Information on the nursing home COVID-19 data quality assurance process (PDF, 438 KB, 2 pp)             Facility-based long-term care in Indian Country               The CMS LTSS TA Center offers an overview of facility-based care and provides guidance to help people learn more about relevant Medicaid and Medicare requirements. Other LTSS TA Center resources include: A webinar on staffing shortages in tribal facilities, which discusses current strategies to address those shortages and future opportunities to address excellence in geriatric staffing for tribal elders Tribal Nursing Homes: Communicating with Your Governing Board (PDF, 931 KB, 11 pp), which shares key insights from nursing home administrators who work in Indian Country For access to additional webinars and reports on tribal nursing home best practices, visit CMS’s Tribal Nursing Homes webpage. Also, consider joining Uniting Nursing Homes in Tribal Excellence, a collaborative of tribal nursing home stakeholders.               National Title VI program survey report and toolkit In 2020, the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (now renamed USAging) conducted a survey to assess the needs of Title VI programs and the pandemic’s impact on Title VI grantee services. A full report on the survey’s findings, Serving Tribal Elders Across the United States (PDF, 6.3 MB, 36 pp), is now available, along with a National Survey Report Toolkit that Title VI programs can use to share the survey findings. The toolkit provides various resources, including: Fact sheets A data brief on home modification and repair services and needs in Indian Country (PDF, 342 KB, 7 pp) A customizable PowerPoint file summarizing the survey’s key findings Regional reports on Title VI programs   Supportive listening and cognitive resilience Research suggests a specific form of social support—supportive listening—helps enhance cognitive resilience. According to study results published in JAMA Network Open, people who can count on the availability of a supportive listener tend to perform better than expected cognitively, despite having age- and disease-related changes in brain volume. The study also suggests considering targeted, specific forms of social support for inclusion in psychosocial interventions or related public health strategies to promote neurocognitive health.

 

Join the conversation on LinkedIn Want to learn more about or discuss LTSS in Indian Country? Looking to connect with others working in the same field? Join the Tribal Affairs Group on LinkedIn.

 

Caregiver’s corner

 

Supporting family caregivers of people with dementia and a history of trauma Elders with dementia and a history of trauma often feel anxious, scared, and confused. Such feelings, coupled with communication difficulties, contribute to agitation and uncontrollable anger, creating unique challenges for family caregivers. As noted in a recent webinar hosted by The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) Center on Aging and Trauma, caregivers may be better able to address those challenges by: Communicating in ways that help elders feel safe, supported, and validated Responding to the emotion behind an elder’s words, rather than the reliability of what is said Structuring time around meaningful experiences that build positive emotional memories   Watch the JFNA webinar or download the presentation (PDF, 2.6 MB, 47 pp) to learn more.

 

Upcoming events

 

Virtual National Tribal Health Conference October 4–8, 2021 Register for the National Tribal Health Conference Hosted by the National Indian Health Board, the National Tribal Health Conference focuses on health policy and related implications and opportunities for tribes. This year’s theme is The Future of Native Health in Our Changing World. LeadingAge Annual Meeting + EXPO October 24–27, 2021, in Atlanta, GA Register for the LeadingAge event The LeadingAge Annual Meeting + EXPO will feature presentations from experts in aging services and will create a forum for networking and forming partnerships. Additionally, several members of Uniting Nursing Homes in Tribal Excellence will deliver a presentation on cultural humility.

 

Send us your news Do you have news to share about LTSS in Indian Country? Send it to ltssinfo@kauffmaninc.com, and we'll include it in a newsletter. Contact us with other comments or feedback, too. About the newsletter American Indian/Alaska Native Long-Term Services and Supports Solutions is published monthly by the CMS Division of Tribal Affairs to share information, funding opportunities, and resources with LTSS planners, tribal leaders, and supporters.