Exploiting Elderly And Vulnerable Adults Now A Crime

Measure Helps Deter Stealing From Senior Citizens or People With Physical or Mental Disabilities

(Long Island, NY) The New York State Senate today responded to the need for increased protection against financial exploitation of elderly and vulnerable adults by passing legislation to make such actions a crime. The legislation (S6712), sponsored by Senator Patrick M. Gallivan (R-C-I, Elma), gives district attorneys and police the tools they need to prosecute instances of financial exploitation of vulnerable elderly or people with physical or mental disabilities.

“Scams targeting the elderly and disabled have become increasingly more sophisticated and widespread in recent years,” said Senator Gallivan. “This legislation will give district attorneys and local law enforcement the prosecutorial powers needed to protect some of New York State’s most vulnerable citizens. Twenty-nine other states have enacted statutes specifically designed to protect senior citizens against financial abuse and I applaud my Senate colleagues for taking the first step towards ensuring that New York does the same.”

Financial exploitation of the elderly or those who have a physical or mental disability that prevents them from caring for themselves is a pervasive and often unseen form of abuse. The National Center on Elder Abuse defines elder financial exploitation as “the illegal or improper use of an elder’s funds, property or assets.” Such instances of exploitation can include credit card fraud, real estate scams, identity theft and burglary, which are also notoriously difficult to combat. Even when reported to local authorities, antiquated criminal statutes make it difficult to prosecute these offenses.

The bill establishes exploitation of a vulnerable elderly, incompetent, or disabled person as a form of larceny. It also requires adult protective services officials to report all instances of suspected exploitation to their district attorney’s office.

The bill will be sent to the Assembly.

C/O:   http://www.newsli.com/2012/06/19/exploiting-elderly-and-vulnerable-adults-now-a-crime/ 

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day approaching this Friday

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day approaching this Friday: OHIO VALLEY — After a long happy life, most dream of being able to take it easy during their retirement surrounded by family and friends in the last chapters of their lives, and unfortunately that scenario is not always a reality.

That dream can be taken away from elderly in the surrounding communities when they are victims of elder abuse. While it may not be a commonly discussed issue, elder abuse can be devastating for those who experience it and for the family and friends of the victims. Fortunately, there are those working to help end elder abuse and prevent it as much as possible by spreading the word about World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) on Friday, June 15.

Several local residents are working to make sure this issue is brought to the forefront in hopes or preventing and reporting abuse of local elderly citizens who are potential victims. Beverly Hauder, Project Administrator for the Mason County Action Group/Gene Salem Senior Center, has been working for this cause, and stated that elder abuse is a growing problem, not only in Mason County, but all over the nation, especially now that the baby boomer generation is growing older. Another local agency that is working to help elderly citizens against abuse is the Area Agency on Aging District Seven (AAA7), which includes Gallia County, and several other surrounding counties. According to a press release from AAA7, there may be as many as five million elder abuse victims each year in the United States.

Even though there can be so many victims, the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) stated that the gravity of this issue is somewhat unknown because there are many cases that are not reported. The NCEA stated that one in ten elders may experience some type of abuse, but only one in five cases are reported. Elder abuse can happen in a variety of places, including nursing homes and the other institutions, and even the victim’s own home. It was also reported by the NCEA that the abusers can often be trusted individuals, such as spouses, family members, personal acquaintances, or professionals in positions of trust, as well as opportunistic strangers.

The NCEA defines elder abuse as “intentional or neglectful acts by a caregiver or ‘trusted’ individual that leads to, or may lead to, harm of a vulnerable elder.” The types of abuse can include physical abuse, neglect, emotional, sexual, exploitation, neglect, abandonment, and self-neglect. While signs of abuse may be obvious to some, others may not know what to look for. The NCEA defines these types of abuse, and some of their warning signs, as the following:

Physical abuse — Use of force to threaten or physically injure a vulnerable elder. Warning signs are slap marks, unexplained bruises, most pressure points, and certain types of burns or blisters, such as cigarette burns.

Emotional abuse — Verbal attacks, threats, rejection, isolation, or belittling acts that cause or could cause mental anguish, pain, or distress to a senior. Warning signs are withdrawal from normal activities, unexplained changes in alertness, or other unusual behavioral changes.

Sexual abuse — Sexual contact that is forced, tricked, threatened, or otherwise coerced upon a vulnerable elder, including anyone who is unable to grant consent. Warning signs are bruises around the breast or genital area and unexplained sexually transmitted diseases.

Exploitation — Theft, fraud, misuse or neglect of authority, and use of undue influence as a lever to gain control over an older person’s money or property. Warning signs are sudden change in finances and accounts, alters wills and trusts, unusual bank withdrawals, checks written as “loans” or “gifts,” and loss of property.

Neglect — A caregiver’s failure or refusal to provide for a vulnerable elder’s safety, physical or emotional needs. Warning signs are pressure ulcers, filth, lack of medical care, malnutrition, or dehydration.

Abandonment — Desertion of a frail or vulnerable elder by anyone with a duty of care.

Self-Neglect — An inability to understand to consequences of one’s own actions or inaction, which leads to, or may lead to, harm or endangerment.

Hauder stated the biggest issue among elder abuse is perhaps financial abuse. According to the Administration on Aging (AOA), each year, elders lose an estimated $2.6 billion or more due to financial abuse and exploitation. The AAA7 also offers several tips on how financial abuse can be prevented. Those tips include using direct deposit for checks, not signing blank checks and allowing others to fill in the amount, canceling any unused ATM cards, not giving out your ATM/PIN number, checking bank statements for unauthorized transactions, and being cautious of joint accounts.

“Over the last few years, we have seen a substantial rise in financial abuse of our area’s elders,” says Kaye Inoshita, RN, Director of the Regional Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program with the Area Agency on Aging District 7. “We receive many calls about nursing home residents’ families keeping the residents’ pension and retirement income/checks instead of using it to pay for their loved one’s care. Often, it is the resident’s children keeping their parent’s checks to live on. This could be considered financial exploitation which is in fact a crime.”

WEAAD was first recognized on June 15, 2006. The AOA stated the purpose of the day was to “provide an opportunity for communities around the world to promote a better understanding of abuse and neglect of older persons by raising awareness of the cultural social, economic, and demographic processes affecting elder abuse and neglect.”

If one suspects abuse of a loved one, there are many ways to report it and prevent it from continuing. A way for Mason County citizens to report abuse is by contacting the local adult protective services agency through the DHHR office at 304-675-0880. Hauder also said those at the Mason County Action Group are available to help report elder abuse, and those reporting can always remain anonymous.

The AAA7 also encourages those who are victims to contact their doctor or confide in a trusted friend or loved one and call the local Job and Family Services agency. Abuse in long term facilities can be reported to the AAA7 Ombudsman Program at 1-800-582-7277. If someone is in immediate danger, regardless of either county, one should call 911 or the local police department or sheriff’s office.

Hauder stated the Mason County Action Group wants to be known as those who help local residents become more aware of issues like this. She went on to say this day serves as a reminder to check in with our elderly family and friends, and be aware for signs of abuse, a sentiment those at the AAA7 would surely agree with.

“We can’t just close our eyes and pretend it doesn’t exist,” Hauder said.

To learn more about the issue of elder abuse, visit www.ncea.aoa.gov. To contact the AAA7, call 1-800-582-7277. To contact the Mason County Action Group, call 304-675-2369.

Read more: Point Pleasant (WV) Register - World Elder Abuse Awareness Day approaching this Friday 

Is America Failing Our Nation's Seniors?

In 2008, the Meals On Wheels Association of America released the results of a groundbreaking research report entitled "The Causes, Consequences and Future of Senior Hunger in America" that our Foundation had commissioned. The findings of the co-principal investigators, Dr. James Ziliak of the University of Kentucky and Dr. Craig Gundersen then of the University of Iowa, were shocking and unacceptable. In 2001, the research showed, five million seniors in the United States, or one in nine, were facing the threat of hunger. The next year, we asked the same researcher examine several more years of date and update the report. By 2007, the number of seniors facing the threat of hunger was six million. Any reader who can do the math knows that is a 20 percent increase in just six years. But without context, the average reader might not be able to grasp the magnitude of the number. Let me give some context. There are 33 states in this country that each have total state populations of less than 6 million.

Is America failing our nation's seniors? And if we are moving in the clearly wrong direction where senior hunger is concerned today, what of the future?

The baby boomers (and I am one of them) are now entering the ranks of older persons, and it is safe to assume that we will be a demanding lot, constantly in search of more and different kinds of services. We will not likely want to live in assisted living or the even less desirous nursing home environment as generations before us have. Rather, we will want to live independently in community settings. Yet that raises a critical question: Can community-based organizations and the concomitant services needed keep up with the demand? Or will America, having failed to turn the tide on senior hunger with the current generation continue down the path of failure with the next-- and much larger-- generation of our nation's seniors?

It is easy to focus on the short term view of the past, the last couple of decades that have seen a faltering economy that went from great highs to unparalleled, sustained lows and a burgeoning population of older adults, and to lay the blame here. But we have seen depression in the place of deep recession in the more distant past. And we have seen population surges like that of the last century, not driven by birth rates, but by immigrants who came to these shores seeking a better life. Many of those numbers of older persons, like my own grandparents who came into his vast, wonderful land of ours, this great melting pot, seeking the American dream. Even with its own troubles, America did not fail them.

But it is different for millions of older Americans today. At least 6 million in 2007; and while we do not have more current research to account for the impact of the economy of the past several years on seniors, one researcher has suggested that the real number of those facing hunger's real, ominous and daily threat might be 30 percent higher.

All the while, when the national attention, or should I say national debate, turns to seniors and senior issues, the discussion seems confined primarily to Social Security and Medicare - "their programs," those entitlements to which individuals who have paid into the system look for help to sustain them in their elder years. They regard their payments to the trust funds as investments, and they expect to reap some advantages from those investments. Fair enough. But because these programs are entitlements -- which means both that they guarantee some benefit and that they are costly to the budget to maintain (particularly as there are fewer and fewer young people paying into the system than in years past) -- they have become the rallying cry for those who say "look at what we do for seniors. What more do they want?"

Well, sometimes it's not about what they want, but what they need. Feeding the hungry is not a response to an optional want. It's a moral obligation... and food is certainly something to which every man, woman and child is entitled. Plainly put, it's not good enough any longer for Meals On Wheels to be viewed as a feel-good, do-good social service program. Surely local Meals On Wheels programs are that, and they are integral parts of the fabric of every community. That is why the data show us that 99 percent of the American public views these programs positively. But that's not enough. Our elected officials love these programs, and we are grateful for that. At least once a year they are pleased to do a photo-op delivering a meal. But is once a year enough?

When budget issues arise in Congress and the two parties are duking it out on the floor of the Congress, Meals On Wheels generally comes up. But is it good enough to use the story of cutting off meals to seniors and then fail to make adequate funds available to meet the need, so that in the end, after the partisan sparring is over, Meals On Wheels programs in fact have to reduce the number of meals or the number of seniors they serve?

So, I ask the question again. Is America failing our nation's seniors? And, what do we do about it? We, at Meals On Wheels programs throughout the United States, continue to deliver the best services and meals that we can. We are asked to perform two separate tasks. First is simply to feed those seniors who would otherwise go hungry. Second -- and this sets Meals On Wheels and our services apart -- is to ensure that those being fed receive food that is nutritious; that meets government guidelines for nutritional composition; that is maintained at proper temperatures, even if they are being transported forty or more miles along with other meal deliveries being made to other seniors waiting for their food; that is medically, ethnically, and religiously appropriate; and that tastes good too.

Is America failing our nation's seniors? The statistics would say the answer is yes. But are we failing our nation's seniors? No. We are Meals On Wheels, and Meals On Wheels programs are not failing our nation's seniors. Our programs are a lifeline and an anchor for the hundreds of thousands of seniors who need a helping hand. Yes, we can and we will end senior hunger and provide nutritious meals at the same time. We have the courage of our convictions and we will stand up against those who would seek to shut us out and shut us down. There simply is no other option.

Stand with us. In this the richest nation on Earth no one should go hungry. We must not fail our nation's seniors. Stand with us in this fight.

Huffington Post Report by Enid Borden