Fifty years ago, state-of-the-art elder care meant nursing homes. Every progressive-minded Greater Minnesota city wanted one of its own.

Today, skilled nursing care in a residential setting is but one of a range of options as elders and their families seek to maximize quality of life as bodies and minds age. And rural communities in particular are challenged to provide more options to meet needs that will only increase as the number of Minnesotans age 85 and older doubles in the next 25 years.

That's why we admire a bill sponsored by Rep. Jeanne Poppe, DFL-Austin. On its face, the bill would provide small state matching grants to aid in establishing respite care centers for dementia victims. But the bill's intent goes deeper, Poppe says. She hopes that the carrot of state money for respite care will spur rural communities to assess what they can do to prepare for a growing elderly population.

Poppe's bill would offer matching grants to proposals from community groups for respite care in regions that lack such services. In those places, "a lot of family members, especially spouses, are with an ill person 24 hours a day. They can't leave home for an hour without worry. They need occasional relief to attend to their own needs if they are going to keep their loved one at home."

She envisions that grants would be used primarily to train volunteer members of community groups — churches, charities, senior centers — to staff places where victims of dementia can safely and sociably spend several hours. "Funding for training helps neighbors help each other," Poppe said.

The bill calls for a total state input of just $200,000. That means the grants will indeed be small if they are to stretch very far. But sometimes a small incentive is all it takes to illuminate a need and an opportunity to meet it.