Clarify, like, what the project is that we're doing, um, so me and two other people are in a group on um, we're doing 360 journalism's capital recording workshop. I think someone might have interviewed you last year for this workshop. Also,
yeah, I think someone maybe about ethnic studies, yeah,
and it's sort of a different format this year. And so what we're doing is each person in the group of three, one person is working on a print story, one person's working on an audio story, and one person's working on a video story. So we're all producing like a different format, but it's all about this topic of access to elder care in rural areas, and we've been really trying to get a legislator's perspective, but it's been a little bit difficult. So we have talked to who
did you talk to? Dave Baker,
and we also talked to Aaron Hubert from leading age Minnesota, yeah, but that's kind of all we've been able to do, and so we're really grateful for this opportunity. So just to start, we were wondering what you know specifically about health care in rural areas and elder care specifically?
Yeah, so you know I would say that we all come in. So I'm going into my second term, so I have spent two years in legislature going into my third year, you know, I think all legislators come in with kind of different areas of expertise, whether it's professional expertise or whether it's personal expertise, you know. And I would say those are kind of two areas that I did not come into the legislature knowing a lot about. You know, I live in Minneapolis. I represent a district in South Minneapolis. Have lived in cities my whole life. And my background, my professional background, is working education, so I've done a lot of work with, you know, children and families. So these are kind of two issues that I have been grateful to be able to learn about coming into the legislature, you know. And I would say that those are two issues that we talk about a lot. Those are, you know, those are two issues that I think we know are kind of crisis points in our state, you know, I think generally we are seeing across the country, and certainly true in Minnesota, kind of a crisis and all of our caring professions, right? Whether it's health care, whether it's child care and or whether, you know, it's elder care, you know, we are we're seeing that the jobs to the really, you know, filling those really important jobs to take care of, you know, the most needy or vulnerable in our society, or really having a hard time feeling those jobs. So we hear a lot about, you know, nursing homes that can't find staff, hospitals that can't find the nurses that they need. And we know that our population in Minnesota is, you know, aging, right? And so when we look at the demographics, and oftentimes when we are in committees, we'll kind of start with a demographic overview, right? And so we'll, we'll kind of learn about, you know, what are the racial breakdowns across our state, or people living in cities or people living in more rural areas? And one of the things that's all that has is really striking, right? Is kind of our aging population, right? We have more we're going to have more seniors than ever before, and at the same time, people are not having, you know, it's true in Minnesota, it's true across the country. It's true in many developed nations, who are not having babies at the same rate. So we have a very aging population. And so I think we're really thinking about, like, how are we going to care for that population, and how do we maybe need to change our models of care to accommodate the growing population of elders in our state, right? So, you know, nursing homes, and investing in nursing homes and investing in nursing home workforce is one piece of that, right? I think we also talk a lot about and this is something that I have certainly heard about from like residents in my district is aging in place, right? So instead of people having to leave their families, leave their communities as they get older, how do we make it so that people are able to stay in their homes for a longer period of time, whether that air things like, you know, allowing houses to build accessory dwelling units, which is, you know, maybe you can convert your garage into an apartment for your mom. Or, how do we, you know, have some of the health care services that can be closer to where people live. What are even like tax things that we can look at to help elders stay in their home. And then I would, you know, say that I think you asked about the issue of rural health care, which, again, is something that I did not, you know, come in knowing a lot about, you know, I live in Minneapolis. We're lucky to have, you know, I'm lucky to have many hospitals, you know, within a 10 minute drive for me. So, you know, I was really shocked to hear about, kind of, some of the, you know, closures that are happening in rural areas, and hearing about, you know, two hours to get to the nearest hospital. You know, we're seeing a lot of health care consolidation, which is, you know, obviously result of our kind of broken health care system that has led to some of these closures. So, you know, I would say that those are two things that I have just learned a lot, and we talked a lot about in my time in the legislature.
Thank you so much. That's good to know, because a lot of that we've been learning about in our research too, but it's good to know it's something that the legislature has been talking about a lot. Um,
and did you all choose this topic? Or was it chosen for you? Or how does it? How did that work? Yeah,
I did choose it. I'm one of the members in the group doing the print story.
And what made you interested in the topic?
Honestly, I am from a city area. I originally was from Minneapolis, then moved to the suburbs. But my dad is from rural Wisconsin, and I know that, like, he has had some issues, really, with like urban areas, understanding the and like connecting with rural areas in terms of politics. And I didn't really know what specific topic to do. At first I wanted to do something like energy saving and like trying to build, like Sustainable Energy things. But Mary Ann, which is one of the mentors, told me that it would be great to do rural healthcare. So I chose this talk,
yeah, yeah, yeah, you know. And I think that kind of Metro Greater Minnesota divide is something that we talk a lot about in the legislature, right? I think there, you know, we, I think generally, in our country, right? We talk a lot about, like polarization, right? And that the two political parties are kind of getting more and more at odds with each other. It seems like it's often harder to find common ground, you know? I think that there is that same dynamic that happens a lot I see in the state legislature around the metro, verse greater, Minnesota, right? And I, and I think, like, a broken health care system is the same in both places. I think it looks different. You know? I would also say, like, how do we care for our elders? Is one of those topics that that should be able to kind of stand that divide, right? Because our aging population is, is everywhere. But, yeah, that's why they're thinking about that. Because it certainly is like that is a dynamic that I think we're always trying to kind of overcome, is just that, like, I'm from the city, so, you know, I couldn't possibly understand what people in greater Minnesota are dealing with it, and vice versa. And I think a lot of maybe, like stereotypes or misconceptions that people can bring to those issues, definitely.
So another thing that we've been talking about a lot is how the Trump administration's executive orders and policies are going to affect this issue. So we were wondering, how do you think Trump's healthcare initiatives will impact access to healthcare for elder people in rural areas?
Yeah, I mean, so much of it is yet to be determined, you know, but I think I feel really scared generally about what is, you know, I feel like a lot of the things the administration is threatening to do right or has put into executive order, and now we're kind of waiting to see how that act is really trickles down to policy and how the courts may intervene. You know, I think I also think, like, I trust, a lot of the things that Trump said he was going to do on the campaign trail, right? And so if I am taking, you know, him at his word, and makes me really scared for some of the vulnerable populations in our state that rely on these really critical programs, you know, I think that particularly when we know that a large portion of our state, you know, is on Medicare, government funded health care like I really worry what could happen to, you know, potential cuts in those areas, you know. And I think just generally, if, if any of these government programs are being cut, you know, from the federal level, it means that the state will try to pick up the slack, right? I mean, we already see that happen a lot, right? Where the federal government doesn't fully fund a program, and so that the state comes in and tries to fill that gap. And so I can only imagine that if the federal government is cutting more funds, then we as a state are going to try to fill some of those holes, and then, you know, it's, it's a really hard exercise at that point, right, of, of what's more important, right? Like, and I think this is a place that is not the place that I want to be as a policy maker, in terms of the hard decisions of, do we care for my grandma or do we care for my kid? Right? Like no one wants to make those choices. Both of those things are extremely necessary. We need to have, you know, nursing homes where all the elderly population can live and be in community and get the health care we need. We also need schools that are fully funded to be able to bring up the next generation. But I worry that we are going to come into a moment with these potential federal cuts, where we're going to have to be looking at some of those hard decisions, you know, and in Minnesota generally, I think we're in a really good financial spot, especially compared to some other states. But you know, the loss of federal funding, you know, could be, could be devastating.
Yeah, that makes sense. We also talked to Aaron from leading age about Governor Waltz's proposed budget, and leading age is obviously in opposition to this budget because of the cuts to nursing homes. What are your thoughts on the budget and its impact on elder care?
Yeah, you know, and I have to dig into the budget a little bit more, you know. I just for context, I just had a baby six weeks ago, so I've been kind of taking a little bit of time with my family, and so have not been able to dig into the budget as much as I would like, and I also don't sit on any committee that deals directly with
those services, so
I'm not exactly sure. I've heard you know that it that there are definitely advocates that are upset about the way some of the services for elders are, you know, going to be impacted by the governor's proposal, but I don't totally know the details of that.
Okay, no worries. Um. And then next we wanted to talk about immigrant nurses, because that has come up as a solution to the staffing shortages. So we were wondering like, How could immigrant nurses provide the solution to these staffing shortages, and how would the new immigration laws impact the hiring of immigrant nurses.
Yeah, so, yeah, I actually had a bill that dealt with that issue a little bit last year that I actually believed representative Baker, who you talked to, I think he signed on as an author to that bill too, that would
allow nurses to take
the then, like nursing tests in different languages to be able to, you know, support immigrant nurses that are coming and getting into the workforce. You know, I think when we talk about immigration, right, we, you know, we can talk about why immigration is good for our country from a variety of angles, right? We can talk about it from a moral standpoint of like, America is a nation built on immigrants, right? Many people, including myself, have a history of immigration to this country, and so we know that immigrants make our country stronger. And then I think there's also an economic argument right, which is that the reality is that so many of our systems would not work without immigrant workers, right? I mean, we think about food systems, right? You know, in terms of working in our food factories, food distribution in our restaurant industry, like without immigrants, that that industry would fall apart. I think with a lot of the care professions, we see that same thing, right? And so when we're having, you know, nursing shortages, and I was on, was actually with Representative Baker last year, I was on the Workforce Committee. And so, you know, we would talk a lot about, okay, how do we get more people into the professions that we need, that are struggling to be filled right now, namely our caring professions, working with children, working with elders, working in hospitals, working in healthcare, you know? And it's like, Who do we have right now that is under employed or unemployed? How do we bring them in? But the reality is, you know, we just don't have enough workers, right, especially as our population is aging, and so we need to bring in workers, and we have people who have a background or are eager to jump into these professions. And, you know, it's my belief that we should be giving people, you know, the skills breaking down barriers to be able to bring those people into the professions, because we need people working in those jobs yesterday, right?
I you know, I think with
again, it's kind of like we're in a wait and see stage with the new administration. But I think a lot of the things that they are threatening to do around immigration could, certainly, you know, hurt elder care facilities, could hurt our nursing facilities.
And, you know, I
it's frustrating that it feels like it might take that to make our country wake up to the huge role that immigrants are playing right to actually see what our life would be like if we did, you know, implement some of these immigration policies. You know, I wonder if some of the people that voted for Trump because of his stance on immigration, you know, I wonder how people react right when you go to your grandma's nursing home and it's severely understaffed and you're worried about the safety when you go to your favorite restaurant and it's closed down because there's no workers like you know, I think there's, there's the rhetoric, and then there's actually the reality of the role that immigrants play in our country and and I think, I think it will be a harsh wake up call in a lot of ways, if some of these immigration policies,
you know, are really,
you know, put in,
yeah, definitely agree with that. And related to that, I really was wondering what solutions you believe could help improve staffing and bed shortages in rural nursing homes, because I know that there's a lot of debate between like rescinding staffing mandates, or trying to balance staffing and care in a time where it's really declining for rural nursing homes. So I was wondering that,
yeah, I mean, you know, and I'll say, like it, it feels somewhat similar to a to an area where I do a lot of work, which is education, and, you know, thinking about teacher shortages, right? And so, you know, I think same thing with nursing, same thing with education. I think we're seeing kind of two issues, right? There's the recruitment issue of, how do we get people into these professions, and then there's retention, people. Retention issue of, how do we help people stay in these professions, right? And so we need to do things that address both of those. I think on the recruitment side, you know, we need to work on things like breaking down barriers for people to be able to enter the profession. So whether that's things like the bill I had for taking the test in your native language, you know, working with more immigrant nurses and doctors that come and maybe have the skills, and we just need to be able to license them here in the US, you know, programs that specifically give people scholarships to go to school for nursing, things like that. And then I think, you know, we think about the retention piece, and, you know what? What keeps people at jobs, right? And you know, there it's high wages, a good working environment and and so much of that really takes funding, right? Like it will, people will not stay at a job with that's really hard and has really low wages. And so, you know, where does the state need to intervene in? You know, ensuring that people get that get paid. You know what they deserve to do this incredibly important work, you know, and I think that there's also kind of a more holistic picture of like, when we talk about really, any workforce issue in greater Minnesota, you know, we're also talking about things like housing, like, do we have enough housing for people, right? Do you know if we were going to go build a new hospital in an area in greater Minnesota, and you know, it needed 500 staff members. Is there the housing around there to be able to accommodate those people, to be able to move there, take on those jobs, you know? And so something we're we're thinking about statewide, is our housing shortage or housing crisis, and how do we make it easier to build houses across our state, you know, to be able to accommodate the workers that we need to essentially, kind of make our economy run.
Yeah, I think that's a really good point about the workers and everything. And I was wondering on the issue of, like, the causes behind this, do you think insurance companies and kind of the corruption behind there are a big contributing factor to the decline of nursing homes?
Yes. I mean, I think, you know, it's so hard because in anything related to health care, you know, it feels so like we are doing a lot of tinkering at the edges and trying to, you know, just fill immediate gaps, right? Of like, how do we get this hospital that is on the brink of closure a little more funding so they can stay open a little bit longer? Right? I think that it feels like we're kind of always doing that patchwork in reality, right? And I think this is something that that Democrats and Republicans have some agreement on the problem. I don't think we will agreement about how to solve it. But, like, our health care system is broken, right? And so anything that is touching that system is, is, you know, is trying to work within a super flawed system that is not working. So I certainly think that, you know, our nursing homes and issues they're facing are very much related to our health care system,
speaking to that polarization on the issue. Why do you think Elder Care in Minnesota has become very polarized? You know,
I guess I would say, I'm not sure that I would agree. It's very polarized, right? I mean, I think we have some bipartisan agreement in the 23 session to invest in our nursing homes. You know, I think we had a little bit of disagreements about exactly kind of some of the details of that. But I think we all recognize that, like we have an aging population, this is something we need to take on. You know, I know the state had a task force that was working specifically at aging, and what are some of the policy solutions that we need? You know, I think generally, there can be a tension between Democrats Republicans, whenever we're kind of talking about some of these industries, of I would say more in very general terms, Republicans are often like, you know, we need to loosen regulations. That's the thing that's keeping any industry from succeeding right. And I think Democrats have more of a inclination to say, okay, these regulations are what keeps people safe, right, if things like ratios of staff to clients or things like that. So there's some polarization within the issue, but I also think there's really broad agreement that this is something we have to to do something about Yeah,
yeah, that makes sense, and that's good to hear. Um. And then for our last question, they were just wondering,
um, why do you think it is important that all legislators care about this issue, regardless of the location or party.
Yeah. I mean, I think I'm sure every one of us has older people in our lives that we care about, that we know are going to be affected by these systems. And I think you know, also, all of us would be lucky enough to be able to some big or old ourselves, right? And so I think there's just kind of that human that personal stance. I think, secondly, you know, as we talked about, the demographics of our state are very clear, right? We have an aging population, and we're going to be, you know, we're going to have more seniors than ever before in our state. And so trying to be kind of proactive about how we help people age in a way that allows them to live lives of dignity, I think, is probably one of the biggest, you know, challenges that we need to take on, and something that we all need to be thinking about, regardless of, you know, race, background, where we live In Minnesota, you know, and I think in particular, sometimes I don't always know that we talk really holistically about, you know, who our senior population is in Minnesota, for example, like the fastest growing population of homeless people, are seniors, actually right? Are people who are being, you know, potentially priced out of the place that they are living, and then are falling through the cracks, right? And so senior issues affect, you know, many different parts of policy. And so are certainly something that we all need to be thinking about.
Um, definitely. Um. Do you have anything else that you want to add, or anything else that we should know.
No, I mean, I you know, I think it's great that you all as high school students are thinking about this, this issue. Because, you know, I know that oftentimes, when I talk with high school students, they're thinking about issues that direct them immediately, right, which is important too, but I think it's great that you all have taken on, taken on, this issue that maybe a lot of
people your age overlook at
times. Yeah, it's definitely been interesting, because it's not something that I've really thought about before, but it's definitely something that I think everyone should care about and matters to everyone. So, yeah, it's been really interesting issue to learn about. Um, thank you so much for your time. You appreciate this so much.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, yeah, thanks for talking to me, and I would love to see you know whatever you all end up publishing when it's done, yeah,
we'll definitely send it along. Thank you so much. Have a good rest of your day. Bye.
