LiveLaughLuv
07-26-2009, 07:28 AM
After her son moves in, an older woman has lost a lot of weight, her hygiene has gone downhill and she is missing payments on her bills.
A younger female has started accompanying an older man every time he goes to the bank, and instead of depositing his retirement checks, he asks for the money in cash.
An elderly woman with dementia cowers whenever her caregiver is near and has stopped talking to her neighbors.
These could all be signs of elder abuse, which comes in many forms, the most common of which are financial exploitation and neglect.
Adult Protective Services, which covers the tri-county area, receives 50-70 calls a month from individuals wishing to report potential elder abuse. But national and local experts working in the field believe the problem to be much greater than the reports convey. The National Center on Elder Abuse estimates just one in five cases of elder abuse gets reported and between 1 million and 2 million Americans 65 or older have been mistreated, exploited or abused.
Part of the problem is that few people know what elder abuse is; fewer still know how to report it.
“It’s really common for people to have no idea we exist,” said Doug Breuer, a local supervisor with Adult Protective Services, known as APS, with the Department of Human Services, Seniors and People with Disabilities Division. “The vast majority of cases don’t get reported.”
At best, Breuer estimates the department sees about 10 percent of the actual cases.
Elder abuse
Elder abuse comes in many forms: financial exploitation, neglect, self-neglect, abandonment, physical abuse, emotional abuse and sexual abuse.
Breuer says there are three specialists in the local office of APS who investigate allegations of abuse, and each has about 15-20 cases right now. Breuer estimates the department investigates about half of the calls it gets.
Of those, about 30 to 40 percent are substantiated and a small number of those are prosecuted.
Breuer explains this is because not every charge is a violation of the law.
Oregon receives fewer reports of elder abuse per capita than any other state reporting the data. In 2004, the state received 0.4 reports of elder abuse for every 1,000 individuals 60 or older. The national average was closer to six reports for every 1,000 seniors. Breuer isn’t certain why Oregon receives so few reports, but he suspects it’s because fewer people are reporting abuse and not because there are fewer actual cases.
“People don’t know what to look for,” said Sgt. Scott Beard, sergeant of detectives with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office.
Beard says investigating elder abuse is difficult and requires a great deal of research because the victim may not be able to recall details about an incident or may be unaware money has been stolen.
Sharon Merriman-Nai, the co-manager for the National Center on Elder Abuse, believes this problem doesn’t garner much attention because of the population it affects.
“Ageism really does factor into this.”
Victims and perpetrators
The older victims can often be reluctant to turn in an abuser. Some are unaware of the abuse due to dementia and declining cognitive abilities. Others are aware but don’t want to lose their connection to a loved one, according to Breuer. Or they fear their caregiver, who is also the abuser, will abandon them and they will end up in a nursing home.
Dementia is a significant risk factor for elder abuse, according to Merriman-Nai. Also, those with dementia are sometimes not able to tell someone about the abuse, or if they do say something, they may not be believed.
Elder abuse cases are unique, says Bend attorney Lisa Bertalan, who helped create Oregon’s statutes against elder abuse in the early 1990s. “Oftentimes your best witness is incompetent.”
According to an article in the Geriatric Times, studies have shown in addition to dementia, other risk factors for elder abuse include advanced age, physical frailty and an inability to complete many tasks of daily living, such as dressing, eating and going to the bathroom. Other risk factors include drug or alcohol abuse on the part of the caregiver and a lot of physical and psychological demands placed on the caregiver.
“The most prevalent abuser, amazingly enough, is (an adult) child,” said Bertalan.
http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090724/NEWS0107/907240335/1001/NEWS01&nav_category=NEWS01
A younger female has started accompanying an older man every time he goes to the bank, and instead of depositing his retirement checks, he asks for the money in cash.
An elderly woman with dementia cowers whenever her caregiver is near and has stopped talking to her neighbors.
These could all be signs of elder abuse, which comes in many forms, the most common of which are financial exploitation and neglect.
Adult Protective Services, which covers the tri-county area, receives 50-70 calls a month from individuals wishing to report potential elder abuse. But national and local experts working in the field believe the problem to be much greater than the reports convey. The National Center on Elder Abuse estimates just one in five cases of elder abuse gets reported and between 1 million and 2 million Americans 65 or older have been mistreated, exploited or abused.
Part of the problem is that few people know what elder abuse is; fewer still know how to report it.
“It’s really common for people to have no idea we exist,” said Doug Breuer, a local supervisor with Adult Protective Services, known as APS, with the Department of Human Services, Seniors and People with Disabilities Division. “The vast majority of cases don’t get reported.”
At best, Breuer estimates the department sees about 10 percent of the actual cases.
Elder abuse
Elder abuse comes in many forms: financial exploitation, neglect, self-neglect, abandonment, physical abuse, emotional abuse and sexual abuse.
Breuer says there are three specialists in the local office of APS who investigate allegations of abuse, and each has about 15-20 cases right now. Breuer estimates the department investigates about half of the calls it gets.
Of those, about 30 to 40 percent are substantiated and a small number of those are prosecuted.
Breuer explains this is because not every charge is a violation of the law.
Oregon receives fewer reports of elder abuse per capita than any other state reporting the data. In 2004, the state received 0.4 reports of elder abuse for every 1,000 individuals 60 or older. The national average was closer to six reports for every 1,000 seniors. Breuer isn’t certain why Oregon receives so few reports, but he suspects it’s because fewer people are reporting abuse and not because there are fewer actual cases.
“People don’t know what to look for,” said Sgt. Scott Beard, sergeant of detectives with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office.
Beard says investigating elder abuse is difficult and requires a great deal of research because the victim may not be able to recall details about an incident or may be unaware money has been stolen.
Sharon Merriman-Nai, the co-manager for the National Center on Elder Abuse, believes this problem doesn’t garner much attention because of the population it affects.
“Ageism really does factor into this.”
Victims and perpetrators
The older victims can often be reluctant to turn in an abuser. Some are unaware of the abuse due to dementia and declining cognitive abilities. Others are aware but don’t want to lose their connection to a loved one, according to Breuer. Or they fear their caregiver, who is also the abuser, will abandon them and they will end up in a nursing home.
Dementia is a significant risk factor for elder abuse, according to Merriman-Nai. Also, those with dementia are sometimes not able to tell someone about the abuse, or if they do say something, they may not be believed.
Elder abuse cases are unique, says Bend attorney Lisa Bertalan, who helped create Oregon’s statutes against elder abuse in the early 1990s. “Oftentimes your best witness is incompetent.”
According to an article in the Geriatric Times, studies have shown in addition to dementia, other risk factors for elder abuse include advanced age, physical frailty and an inability to complete many tasks of daily living, such as dressing, eating and going to the bathroom. Other risk factors include drug or alcohol abuse on the part of the caregiver and a lot of physical and psychological demands placed on the caregiver.
“The most prevalent abuser, amazingly enough, is (an adult) child,” said Bertalan.
http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090724/NEWS0107/907240335/1001/NEWS01&nav_category=NEWS01