History

Empira was formed in 2001 by our member organizations. As a consortium of four aging services organizations (Elim Care Inc, Presbyterian Homes & Services, Saint Therese and Volunteers of America) who share the common goal of advancing person-centered, clinical, and holistic care for their resident, members work in partnership to enrich quality of life for older adults through applied research that produces holistic clinical excellence.

Empira collaborates with our members’ nursing home communities in metro and rural Minnesota to develop our signature quality improvement programs. Once developed, these programs are shared with senior care provider communities and health care organizations throughout the nation.

In 2008, we received resources from the Performance-Based Incentive Payment Program (PIPP) through the Minnesota Department of Health and Human Services that allowed us to develop and deploy our first signature quality improvement program, Fall Prevention and Reduction. Following the success of that first program, we went on to create three more: Restorative Sleep, Behavioral Expression Management, and ResoLute. A ffith program STREAM, is currently in development.

In 2020, the Empira consortium received honorable mention for the 2020 Community Commitment Awards Presentation which was held during the Pioneer Network virtual gathering: Envisioning the Future: 2020 & Beyond.  These Awards were presented to five organizations in recognition of projects that promote meaning and purpose for Elders as they provide benefit to the greater community.
 

In 2012, Empira was awarded the Commissioner’s Circle of Excellence Award by the Minnesota Department of Human Services. This award recognizes excellence among human services providers that work in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Human Services to help people live in dignity and achieve their highest potential.

Empira’s commitment to the pursuit of aging services excellence continues as we expand the reach of our signature programs to non-members. The success of our signature programs within the 24+ Empira communities has inspired other senior care providers to seek education and consulting from Empira in order to duplicate our outcomes in their own communities.

Today, Empira is an internationally-recognized leader in providing education and consulting services to senior organizations across the country. Our education and consulting services typically share the best practices and key findings from our signature programs.