It's past time to revisit the issue of elder abuse

Six years ago in April, I led a workshop in Seattle that I called “Elder Abuse: Hope Through the Scandal.” The participants were United Methodist folks, so we touched on how churches can respond to elder abuse in their congregations and communities.

But the basic “Elder Abuse 101” segment was information useful for all persons in our community who have concerns about older adults who might be abused. The Geezer Forum has addressed elder abuse in the past also.

I know the Adult Protective Services case manager for the Area Agency on Aging, Pat Pace, is eager for everyone to learn more about what elder abuse is and how to respond to it. So we will again explore Elder Abuse next Tuesday, March 27, at The Geezer Forum. More on that later in this column.

AARP has reported that 1 in 10 older adults in America have been abused. That is just an educated guess, because only 1 in 5 (a conservative estimate) abuse cases are reported.

So what can we do? First, we need to be AWARE that elder abuse is “alive and well” in our area, just as it is everywhere in our country. It happens whether we are aware of it or not!

Second, we need to become INFORMED about the kinds of abuse that occur, the different signs of abuse present behind closed doors. You might be surprised as to what “facts” you know about elder abuse might actually be misinformation. For instance, did you realize that most abuse is done by family members in the home?

Third, we can become an ADVOCATE for persons we discover have been abused in some way. When group training is made available in our county, seriously consider taking that training.

If you are interested in this kind of training, we can, together, put together some times for a short series of workshops on elder abuse for the community. The workshop would likely draw on resource persons from Adult Protective Services, Board of Community Guardians, Law Enforcement and Emergency Medical Services, and social services professionals, to name a few.

In the meantime, there are available online resources for us to learn what kinds of support friends and family members can offer to persons to stop abuse and to (hopefully) prevent elder abuse from occurring.

For instance, if you want to do some online research for yourself, try out these websites: National Council on Aging, www.ncoa.org; National Center on Elder Abuse, www.necea.aoa.gov; Elder Justice Coalition, www.elderjusticecoalition.com; www.caring.com, (type in “elder abuse” and see where that takes you); AARP, aarp.org; Help Guide, www.helpguide.org, (again, type in “elder abuse”)

For some persons, that training can begin next Tuesday, March 27, at The Geezer Forum at Columbia Bank’s Community Room. We meet 2:30-4 p.m. Our resource speakers will be Pat Pace, of Adult Protection Services at the Area Agency on Aging, and Judy Baird, Ponderay branch manager of Mountain West Bank.

Pat will give a helpful overview of what kinds of elder abuse exist and how we can respond to it. Judy will focus on financial elder abuse, a more serious problem than we might ever consider. Be courageous and join us!

Paul R. Graves, M.Div., is Lead Geezer-in-Training of Elder Advocates, a consulting ministry on aging issues. Contact Paul at 208-610-4971 or elderadvocates@nctv.com.