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Al Behrman / AP
An elderly woman who has suffered abuse by a relative watches "I Love Lucy" on a television inside her room at Cedar Village retirement community, in Mason, Ohio. The Shalom Center that is a part of the community helps the woman by offering shelter, along with medical, psychological and legal help, to elderly abuse victims in this northern Cincinnati suburb. The center asked that her identity be protected for this story.
She raises her hands to her snow-white hair in a gesture of frustrated bewilderment, then slowly lowers them to cover eyes filling with tears. The woman, in her 70s, is trying to explain how she wound up in a shelter that could well be where she spends the rest of her life.
While the woman was living with a close family member, officials at the Shalom Center say, her money was being drained away by people overcharging for her grocery shopping, while her body and spirit were sapped by physical neglect and emotional torment. She says she was usually ordered to "go to bed," where she lay in a dark room, upset, unable to sleep.
A family member “just yelled at me all the time. Screamed at me, cussed me out," the woman says. "I don't know what happened. She just got tired of me, I guess."
The Shalom Center offers shelter, along with medical, psychological and legal help, to elderly abuse victims in this northern Cincinnati suburb. It is among a handful in the country that provide sanctuary from such treatment, a problem experts say is growing along with the age of the nation's population.
The number of Americans 65 and over is projected to nearly double by 2030 because of the 74 million baby boomers born in 1946-64, and the number of people 85 and over is increasing at an even faster rate. As many as 2 million seniors are abused, exploited or neglected every year, judging by available statistics and surveys, but experts say there could be many more. Some research indicates that one in 10 seniors have suffered some form of abuse at least once.
"That's a big number," said Sharon Merriman-Nai, project director of the Clearinghouse on Abuse and Neglect of the Elderly, based at the University of Delaware. "It's a huge issue, and it's just going to get bigger."
Recognition of and mechanisms for dealing with elder abuse are many years behind strides that have been made in child abuse awareness and protection, experts say.
Getting comprehensive numbers of the abused is complicated, experts say, because the vast majority of cases go unreported out of embarrassment, fear of being cut off from family — most abuse is at the hands of relatives — or confusion about what has happened.
Abuse sometimes comes to light only by chance. County-level adult protective services caseworkers can get anonymous tips. In one recent Ohio case, a hairstylist noticed her elderly client was wincing in pain and got her to acknowledge she had been hit in the ribs by a relative. Another Shalom Center patient was referred by sheriff's detectives who said his son beat him.
"Are these older people going to be allowed to live their lives the way they deserve to?" said Carol Silver Elliott, CEO of the Cedar Village retirement community, of which the Shalom Center is a part. "We really are not addressing it as a society the way we should."
The Obama administration has said it has increased its focus on protecting American seniors by establishing a national resource center and a consumer protection office, among other steps. But needs are growing at a time when government spending on social services is being cut on many levels or not keeping up with demand.
In Ohio, slowly recovering from the recession, budgets have been slashed in such areas as staffs that investigate elderly abuse cases.
The Job and Family Services agency in Hamilton County in Cincinnati has about half the staff it had in 2009, spokesman Brian Gregg said. Even as national statistics indicate elder abuse is increasing, the number of elder abuse cases the agency can probe is lower, down from 574 cases in 2009 to 477 last year, he said.
There are no longer enough adult protective services investigators to routinely check on older adults unless there is a specific report of abuse or neglect.
"We do the best we can down here," Gregg said, noting that the agency has a hotline to take anonymous reports and that it is seeing more financial scams targeting elderly people.
The price for not getting ahead of the problem and preventing abuse of people who would otherwise be healthy and financially stable will be high, warned Joy Solomon, a former Manhattan assistant prosecutor who helped pioneer elder abuse shelters with the Weinberg Center for Elder Abuse Prevention, which opened in 2005 at the Hebrew Home community in New York City.
"My argument always is, if all you do is come in when the crisis has occurred, it is much more costly than preventative care," said Solomon, director of the shelter, which takes in about 15 people a year. "We're going to have to pay for it anyway."
She and others in the field say the first steps are to raise public awareness and train police, lawyers, criminal justice officials and others to recognize and respond to signs of abuse.
Prosecutors often have been reluctant to purse elder abuse cases, which can be complex because of medical and financial complications, the witness' ability to testify or reluctance to testify against relatives, according to research for the National Institute of Justice.
In suburban Los Angeles, Orange County started an Elder Abuse Forensic Center nearly 10 years ago; it helps police, geriatrics specialists, lawyers and social services workers coordinate efforts to identify, investigate and prosecute abuse cases.
New York City started its Elder Abuse Center to 2009 to bring a multi-organization approach to the problem, saying nearly 100,000 older people are abused in their homes in the city alone. While he was Ohio's attorney general in 2009, Richard Cordray, now director of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, started the state Elder Abuse Commission, something current Attorney General Mike DeWine has continued.
The commission has focused on training and education and hopes to launch a public awareness campaign this year, said Ursel McElroy, the longtime adult protection services investigator who leads it. The commission also has been pushing for legislation to improve legal protection and abuse prevention, expand training, and improve statistical data.
In New York, part of the Weinberg Center's mission is to help other communities replicate it. It has assisted shelter startups in upstate New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Minnesota along with the Shalom Center in Ohio.
The center marked its anniversary in January. While more than 40 people have been referred to the nonprofit, faith-based center, only three have gone through with admittance, signs of the reluctance of people who fear losing family relationships — even if they are bad — or the feeling of being at home.
Set up as a "virtual shelter" because victims are integrated into the full Cedar Village retirement community, it is meant to provide 60- to 90-day emergency stays while caseworkers provide help and seek out the best alternative, such as with a different caregiver or relative.
In the case of the woman who complained of abuse in a relative's home, a call to adult protective services by someone familiar with her led to an investigation and her referral to the shelter.
She has little money, health problems and few alternatives, and after a while, she asked if she could stay at Cedar Village permanently. Caseworkers and officials at the nonprofit, faith-based home agreed that was the best place for her.
The center asked that her identity be protected for this story because the close relatives who allegedly abused her don't know where she is.
She paints, plays in a residents' bell choir, plays bingo with others regularly, and has her own room and TV to watch favorites such as "Ellen" and reruns of "I Love Lucy."
The healthy diet at the center means she misses some of her favorite foods — beans and corn bread, fried pork chops. But she loves the tuna salad, the group activities and having a life with people who care about her.
"I've got quite a few friends," she says. "They're just nice people here. I have somebody to talk to, and I appreciate it."
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People will look for any opportunity to prey upon the elderly for personal gain. My deceased mother in law died penniless, there wasn't even enough money to bury her. Her only child, my husband, was left without the inheritance his father worked his entire life to leave him because a family member helped change her will, sell her property and help themselves every cent. The explanation: "She gave us gifts." The total in gifts after SS checks were also withdrawn from her bank account for additional 'gifts' came to over $400K.
I'm not surprised and to be blunt, not very sympathetic. Two generations of thieves living off of my income, my kids income, and my grand-kids income aren't going to get much in the way of sympathy from me. While they were busy buying lake shore property, cars, boats, and vacations and spending not only their own money but saddling the next 3 generations with trillions in debt perhaps they should have focused making sure the world was a better place for their kids, saving rather then spending, and ensuring their kids would have the same opportunities. Instead they robbed us, saddled us with a tax burden to pay for their poor choices and quite frankly I don't give a damn anymore. I don't give a @!$%# about a burglar who breaks in my home and robs me, why the hell would I care about a generation of people that robbed me via the IRS?
The Baby Boomers were pampered by terrified parents that lived through some horrible events. They over-sheltered their kids and they in turn over-sheltered their kids giving us 2 generations of people so out of touch with reality, irresponsible, selfish, conceited, and vapid that a show like Jersey Shore succeeds. No work ethic, no morals, no integrity, short sighted, thieves. It is any wonder that congress has such a poor standing but it makes sense the moment you see who the majority of them are, Boomers. They paved the way to their own personal torment at the hands of their own selfish kids while lecturing the world on how things should be, rather then how they are.
Perhaps the boomers should put a little less in a @!$%#ing slot machine and a touch more in saving so they can pay for their own damn medication instead of taxing me to the point I can't afford my own. Nothing more sickening then hearing these selfish @!$%#s put $300 bucks in a slot machine and while sitting there bitch about not being able to afford their $40 a month in meds... @!$%#ing delusional selfish @!$%#s.
So it comes as no surprise that they face abuse, you reap what you sow.
Both of my parents, rest their souls, died within a year of each other. They lived 5 hours from me and for 3 years our lives where turned completely upside down due to the ever changing landscape their care required. My mother was exceedingly difficult and somewhat abusive toward everyone her last months. I quit work, travelled between two homes, learned how to change diapers, prepare medications, meal, breathing treatments, doctors appointments, countless nights in the ER. The toll of maintaining 2 homes led my husband and I to Chapter 7 bankruptcy. As I look back, I do not regret a moment of it. Was it hard...oh hell yeah? Were there times I wanted to put my mom through the wall?...Yep. God was with me and kept me strong and I feel of the care they received at the end stage of their lives.
Overcharging her for food? Whose home was this poor soul living in? If she was living with a daughter , was she paying rent to her daughter? Was she compensating her with utilities in any way? Who was taking her to Doctors appointments , was the family member compensenated? Nursing homes on average cost 4000 to 8000 and at times up to 12,000 per month . I think that nursing home care sucks the money right out of the elderly , they never see a check again and often get poor care. There is no handbook on how to take care of an elderly person and help needs to be given to family if that is where our elderly person wants to stay. Currently there is no financial compensation for a family member to care for another family member. If you live in Ma. Ma health will offer help . Difficult to get Ma health if your not a crook. Best bet , is find Mom or Dad a good facility and visit often , the squeeky wheel gets the greese. If you have a relative who refuses to go to a nursing home as many will , seek outside help , it can be extremely isolating. Flip side of the coin , i took care of a patient once who's family left her living alone . She fell and stayed on the floor for 2 days, was near death when she was found. There are a lot of stories out their believe me and not all of them are bad. The best cared for patient I ever had was a 87 year old woman , whose family couldnt care for her anymore. She did not have a blemish on her body. By the time our nursing facility got done with her she had plenty.
Up Date / Kenneth Bell my brother's son (who has abandon him) called me saying that Patuxent River Rehab Administrator Jodie Dyer had telephoned him on Monday January 28, 2013. She wanted to inform him that she was going to evict his father because of the blog stories that are appearing on the internet. These are the kind of loose cannons that are running these facilities!
Elderly abuse is okay...so long as you are ONLY abusing "Old White Men". Everyone knows these guys are the enemy and the reason for the failures and missed opportunities of ALL women, minorities and homosexuals. They are ALL flithy rich, priveleged and they HATE everyone but themselves. They go out of their way to hold other people down because they have NOTHING better to do with their time.
So, dont feel bad if you are abusing one of these guys. They deserve it!!
From what I have learned and what I have seen as to the system abuse of the elderly, along with neglect from families, I should write a book. I sit here on the couch, trying to write this piece without becoming physically sick.
Too many years of trying to get help for not only my Mother, but several other elderly men and women has left a VERY bitter and hateful attitude on my part towards a system that does take advantage of the elderly and the ill. Family members who abused and neglected their elders, will face God as their judge, since mere mankind has FAILED to extract justice.
A nearby hospital has a reputation for "infections" that rampantly take down the elderly patients quickly to the grave. Complaints go unheeded. A nearby assisted-living facility KNEW that the director had a felony charge on her record, along with dubious bookkeeping records and a State notice of complaint lodged against the facility for neglect on the elderly, Yet, they kept her employed.
A financial adviser to the elderly stole over $500k, yet the State could not STOP him, as he was using his plea as a personal loan, and still had court convictions on-the-record for SEC violations.
An old man with diabetes and high blood pressure, has several bouts of illnesses during a summer, which sent him in and out of ICU's for months. The GI doctor decided to operate anyway for a colonoscopy. The doctor burned the lining of the colon with a laser and failed to send him to the hospital. The man was sent home bleeding for four hours. Over the next two months, he was in and out of hospitals and nursing homes, constantly. He died, with five infections after his colon was removed. One simple procedure on an elderly man with health problems performed in a off-site surgical center, not in a hospital. One hospital with a record of high-infection rates. One doctor who now needs to have his license pulled. One elderly man now in a newly dug grave nearby.
The elderly man faced being pushed out of his home, and into a nursing home. The night stillness was shattered when the gun blast went off, as he made a different decision. One elderly couple facing the unknown, found with plastic bags over their faces, after they had taken pills. Many elderly men and women are afraid as they lose their own choices and they have no one with them that they can trust.
The two adult daughters do not care...they did not care for their grandmother when she became too much of a problem. They do not have any contact with their elderly mother, for they have no desire to do so.
One 85 year old woman went to a nursing home in Bradenton, Fl. The doctor failed to read her chart. The care staff failed to look at the chart. The nursing home pharmacy failed to double-check the record, as the patient was given a medication that she was allergic to. With five rashes, on her body and agony that lingered day after day, the hospice nurse ridiculed the family for their concern as the old woman progressed faster towards her death.
She died because of neglect in the high rise nursing home. The hospital failed to make the report to the state and the cover-up existed. With bedsores, pressure sores and a body covered in rashes, the old woman passed away within four months of moving into the well-known place of "no return".
When, families go to lawyers for reprisal, the attorneys ask for 40% and make phone calls. No jury sees the pictures of the elderly as they lie in beds being ignored and die in unnecessary agony.
I became invested in the lives of so many elderly men and women, because no one came to the front of the room. What I have seen does not easily escape my mind, as I try to sleep at night. I have become ill from the stress of knowing too much and realizing that I face that kind of an ending, too...."where no one will answer the bell and no one will care in the end"!
I hate to burst everyone's bubble, but the majority of elder abuse is at the hands of relatives. The sad thing is, every state defines elder abuse differently. In many states, all healthcare workers, law enforcement and even bankers are mandated reporters. Unfortunately, they do not know this and this causes a lot of elderly abuse to go unreported. And as far as prosecution, HA! My mother suffered the last years of her life being abused by her eldest daughter. In the end, Mom was being drugged. When we went to the doctors for help, very little happened. When we went to social workers for help, very little happened. She was hospitalized and the family requested she be drug tested. She wasn't. We also requested she not be allowed to go home with the abusive daughter. The hospital social worker tried to prevent it. They had no idea Adult Protective Services was investigated. APS did not contact any of the rest of us for help. When she threw a hissy fit, the hospital released my mother to the care of the eldest daughter June 30, 2011. July, 1, 2011, my mother was overdosed with ativan, oxycotin and xanax. She barely made it to ER in time. On the way her blood pressure was 60/37 and dropping. This time the hospital did a drug test. My mother died 16 days later. Despite having the information of what happened to her, the hospital, and doctors, who were supposed to report it to APS and law enforcement did not. Despite having financial records that showed years of exploitation and medical records that showed what happened, the local Commonwealth Attorney in my Virginia county did nothing but look at the records. Had everyone, bankers, doctors, and even the community who knew and loved my mother very much, took the time to say, "This isn't right," the rest of my mother's children would not have been alone in a very difficult battle to try and save her life for a few more years. My mother would not have suffered and we would have had the support of the legal system to protect my mother. My goal is to educate society of this blight on society. Sure there is an occasional healthcare worker who is abusive. That's more than not financially. However, family members are the most likely candidates. So pleas, watch closely and if it doesn't feel right, look right, or if your loved one appears to be afraid of the caregiver, or doesn't appear to be getting the care they should, investigate. Call APS. Save the person you love who gave you life. Speak to your representatives about making the definition of elder abuse federal. The way I look at it, if Mickey Rooney couldn't get help, what happens to just every day elderly citizens?
Within the past couple of years I have seen in the news in my area at least 3 cases of elder abuse going on in nursing homes. In every case, it was teenaged girls abusing disoriented elderly people physically and sexually. The girls got probation because they were minors. I was sickened and horrified and thought they deserved years in prison. Some of them recorded each other torturing the patients on their phones so there was no lack of evidence. If I can help it, my parents will never end up in a home.