Building Strong Support for Elders

World elder abuse awareness day - June 15th

By Jeanne St. Onge

WORLD ELDER ABUSE AWARENESS DAY
Commemorated on June 15th each year, World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is an opportunity for people or organizations to take action to protect older people by raising awareness about elder abuse, why it occurs, and what we can do to stop it.
 
WHAT IS ELDER ABUSE?
Elder abuse refers to intentional or negligent acts by a caregiver or trusted individual that causes harm to an older person. Elder abuse takes many forms, including:

• Neglect or Isolation
• Physical Abuse
• Sexual Abuse
• Financial Abuse and Exploitation
• Emotion or Psychological Abuse

WAYS TO PREVENT ELDER ABUSE
1. Build public awareness and grass-roots involvement

• Talk about the issue to increase the identification and reporting of abuse by the public, professionals, and older people who experience abuse
• Provide older people who experience abuse with a safe environment to speak out and tell their stories
• Begin long-term prevention by raising awareness of solutions among students and young people
• Challenge injustices and ageist stereotypes

2. Enhance services for older people who experience abuse

• ​To help prevent abuse, more services to reduce isolation should be available to those at risk for abuse
• To intervene more effectively, shelters for older people and other support services, such as in-home help and in-home medical attention, should be established and targeted to at-risk older people to mitigate the risk of abuse or to remove people from dangerous situations
• To protect their well-being and assets and to prevent further harm, adequate services should be targeted to older people who experience abuse

3. Enhance system responses

• To improve the training of state adult protective services workers so they are prepared to respond to increasing numbers of elder abuse reports
• To improve continuing education for mandated reporters on: risk factors and red flags of elder abuse, what to do when they suspect elder abuse, where to report suspicions, and how to respond most effectively

4. Research

• The scope of the problem (i.e., incidence and prevalence)
• The causes of the problem
• The effectiveness of interventions and prevention strategies
• The impact and monetary costs of elder abuse on the lives of older people, families, communities, and society in general.

5. Be a "sentinel"

• Keep in contact and talk with your older friends, neighbors, and relatives frequently
• Be aware and alert for the possibility of abuse
• Look around and take note of what may be happening with your older neighbors and acquaintances
• Ask questions and listen

​For more information,
Visit the website of the National Center
​on Elder Abuse (NCEA) at 
https://ncea.acl.gov.

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