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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."
Leave a Comment:
So glad that I don't have any kids who will mercilessly dump me into a nursing home when I become a burden on them. If I'm going to die, I'd rather have it be on my own terms, alone in my home, rather than abandoned in one of those "death farms" a.ka. nursing homes
Funny, I am looking forward to a nursing home. Don't have to cook, clean, do laundry. You can play cards, video games. Hang out all day. Nurses and help at the ready. Sitting home alone doesn't sound so great, but it would be your choice. Good luck. Unless you live on a farm, then it would be a "death farm".
most states have laws to prevent this type of treatment. get the local law enforcement involved or call the state's attorney general help line. I am sure that steps would be taken to punish the perpetrator and alleviate the person's suffering. unless the elected officials just don't give a damn.
Democrats cut $716B from Medicare. That's elder abuse. They cut:
$260B for hospital services
$156B for Medicare Advantage
$145B for hospitals serving low-income patients
$66B for home health services
$39B for skilled nursing services
$17B for hospice services
$33B for other services
Dems will claim the cuts were to fraud and waste, but they have yet to prove that. Services ARE being cut. It's a lot harder to get an appointment with a physician or clinic.
If Dems are right about the fraud and waste, then let's cut the budgets for ALL services in which fraud and waste exist, such as Earned Income Tax Credit (25-40% waste), Section 8 housing, food stamps, welfare, Obamaphones, public education, etc..
There is fraud and waste in EVERY government program - so let's follow the Dem examples and CUT CUT CUT.
Better to nip it in the bud now. There are many war babies that are retiring. What a shambles our society has fallen into. In many Eastern and South American countries, the elderly are taken care of so much better. Family actually means something in those countries. Americans have lost themselves to greed.
My wife and I spent several years caring for my mom before she became too ill to be at home. Those were treasured years to me and I can't believe someone could treat it as otherwise. But knowing some of the disgusting low-life people that exist in this world, its not suprising at all.
Anyone that would abuse an elderly person or child, does not deserve to live. They should be hung immediately after being found guilty. The same punishment should go for rapists too.
My kinda gojo... Hang em quick and hang em high. A little party and h'orderves afterwards. Cleansing shouldn't go without a little pomp.
I'm about to turn 57 and hope I'm a few years away from needing a lot of care but I feel secure in the fact that my children will see to my care one way or another. We come from a small town in the midwest where the sense of community is still very strong and our older generations are still counted on for their wisdom and experience. Our children are raised far away from the me generation or generation X , whatever the current handle may be. I know that these types of things happen every where but in seems to happen less in areas that are somewhat removed from the pressure of modern life where people are judged more on their character than on their success. This leeds to a community that reveres and respects it's elders.
OK. I'm going to step out on a limb here. First of all, I would never advocate and have never participated in the abuse of the elderly or anyone else. However, people should understand that not everyone had a supportive and loving upbringing. My parents worked me like a dog on the farm and beat me regularly from the time I was a child. Never any emotional or financial support except basic food, clothing, and housing through high school. I'm I now to have concern about them? I never had children largely because I was afraid I would be as poor of a parent as they were. Though I am now an adult, my parents are in a nice nursing home, and I have power of attorney and am handling their business affairs, I have to ask myself a few questions. Do I love or respect them? No. Will I feel badly when they die? No. Do I think they did the best they could? No. I'm just glad I didn't turn out like them, and when they die, I hope they don't suffer too much, but it will be a relief. In the last few years, they have begun to realize what they did to me and my brother. Nothing I could do to them would be worse than the personal hell they are living in now with that realization.
If you have no feelings for them then fine but there is no excuse for beating them. Walk away and don't look back but there is absolutely no excuse for abusing them. If they beat you then walk away, why have any contact with them....if you don't care about them, walk away. Point is....walk away and do not become an abuser. I hope you and your brother have sought help so that you can heal but under no circumstances should you follow their path and abuse an elderly person.
gojo, you apparently didn't even read what I wrote before you started getting preachy. I have never and will never beat or in any way abuse my parents. It's way to late for that. So get off your self-righteous high horse and at least read a post before you start giving advice.
Why are our f***ing government representatives not "up in arms" about this and busting out some new "law" to prevent this?!!!
For the same reason they don't go after child abusers and molesters with a life sentence and release them to repeat the crime. As a society we need to realize that some people are just evil and you can't fix evil....you either have to lock it away forever or kill it. I say kill it and make room in the prisons for lesser offenders.
If you have a family member in any home you need to be very aware that not all of the workers care. Some homes only care about keeping the income form the patient and the aids and workers could care less. Pay is low and that contributes to the problem. Some homes are so bad that patients are found with bedsores and filty due to neglect. I removed my mother when I found her bruised all over her upper torso. They told me it was because she "wouldn't go to her room". She had later stages of Dimentia and anyone who knows anything about this knows that you do not force these patients to do anything. Gentle coaxing and they will do anything you tell them to do. After investigating I discovered my mother had done nothing wrong. The worker was just mean. Be alert, be there and ask quetions. Observe how your loved one responds to you and others while you are there. Often they won't tell you anything but you can know that something is wrong by just keeping your eyes open.
As American wealth continues to concentrate via SSE, the value of the citizenry, and the nation as a whole, will continue its downward spiral of diminishing returns.
Remember this. Those with salaries in the millions are being short changed by the middle class.
all paid elderly workers need to foster a base of volunteers..... the word is foster..... and volunteers will fill a need , the need...... so what are you waiting for .....
Many of the elderly have very specialized needs. Volunteers don't always have the expertise or the stomach for what is necessary for elder care. I change a lot of adult diapers, dress bedsores and other wounds, wash hair, bathe, and feed by stomach tube. I have been thrown up on, crapped on, and spit on. I think you might have a lot of trouble finding a lot of volunteers for this kind of work. Can they test blood sugar? Monitor medications? Prepare a salt free, low cholesterol meal that the person will still want to eat? Do they know the symptoms of a heart attack, a stroke, or pneumonia? Do they know when to call 911? I've had to argue with family members who didn't want to bother "those nice emts", because they didn't believe that mom was really having a heart attack.
Are they able to handle watching people die? I work with hospice, and I've lost a lot of patients that I didn't want to lose. I have one client I have taken care of for five years. He's fading fast now, and there is very little anyone can do about it. I attend every funeral. Comfort the family. Help them with phone calls and arrangements and hold them while they cry.
I have bought groceries and gifts and nightgowns, and in one case, a new mattress for my patient. Are your volunteers going to do that?
This is a full time job, and people need to be there every single day. If you forget to show up, people die. We keep charts and note changes and concerns. We overlap every shift so that the next shift can be brought up to speed and knows what to watch out for. The elderly don't always communicate well, due to dementia, stroke, etc. You have to know what signs to watch out for. They're like babies, they can't always tell you where it hurts. You have to pay attention and watch the subtle signs. Can a volunteer do that?
Families aren't always equipped to deal with some of the issues that arise when dealing with an elderly or dying parent. They don't always have the training or skills or the emotional toughness. That's what I'm for, to help them when they can't do what their parent or loved one requires.
Last, but not least, our patients get attached to us. They depend on us. You can't just provide a rotating bunch of strangers. They need continuity and security, not strangers or casual drop-ins.
Yup jeesus, and I'm one of them. On top of that the mortgage crash took my IRA savings with it. Watching the government bail out the thieves with our tax dollars was the icing on the cake. Thankfully I have no family to screw me over. The day comes that someone tries to force me into a 'retirement home', I'm gone. Just somewhat glad I'm still reasonably healthy. If there were any companies willing to hire, I'm quite capable of it. But of course, to them I'm useless, unable to learn (they say) fragile (yah right) and expensive to insure (gimme a break).
I am 72 years old and this article makes me sick. My wife is in a home and I check on her during ALL shiffs. If I thought something bad was happening to her the ___— would hit the fan. Just sayin'.
usa number 1!
this is what happens when you make death and dying as profitable as it is here. this country has no shame and no clue. even this article, which is pretty much advocacy for more reasons to throw people in jail instead of talking about why some people are so desperate now that they're stealing from their parents.
all for the pathological love of a buck our nation burns.
To think someone would abuse an older person makes me sick, anyone who is caught doing this should spend at least five yrs in jail or prison, this is just awful..
omg you have to be kidding me. the comment before me is part of the problem not the solution yes although it is scary to put trust in someone when we have no other option what have we to loose. not all people abuse the elderly i would be more leary to go somewhere where an invitation was somewhere out of left field where this relative just stepped up especially if you know little of them just because they are a relative does not mean that they do not have an alterior motive, this woman really got the second chance that most of our seniors do not have the luxury of. this is a great organization and they are here to help not hurt you and lets face it things cost money this is what you save for you can not put the dollar before your safety and health and either way your money is gone you can let someone steal it or you can pay for a nice place with friends WAKE UP PEOPLE REALITY SETS IT WHEN DONT EVER THINK THIS CAN NOT HAPPEN TO YOU
SCRATCH THAT FIRST SENTANCE jean is the person i am directing this at not lori i apoligize for this
Or maybe the boomers are just getting what they deserve?
It's true, bad parents have kids who resent them, and the fact that the US Health Care System has been broken for decades does not help.
I have no sympathy for right wing conservative parents who force religion and their beliefs on everyone -and who fought to not fix health care- getting what they deserve, it's the system they wanted, now they got it.
Maybe if they had taught their kids some other things besides: religious, racial and sexual hatred, like love and respecting other people opinions and lifestyles things would be different for them now. If all you teach kids is guns and hatred who's gonna take care of you when you get older, the good gay son you disowned years ago.
Avarage Guy---Man you are some screwed up. If it wasn't for the people you are talking about you wouldn't even be here, you would more than likely been thrown away inside a condem.. Your freaking mad, these are the same people that were taxed to give you what you have today. The best damn country in the world.
Folks if you want to know where the abuse of the people over 65 starts, look no furhter than the White House. The black man running around there that they call the president has cut the hell out of their Senior Programs to pay for his Obama-Care. The last time I heard about the cost put it over $1 Trillion Dollars. Now before you get upset about things just remember that Obama is the CEO of Obama-Care and he calls the shots. So now you know who will lose this battle. The damn Supreme Court backed Obama and kicked us down the road.
Now you people that voted for Obama, I sure in the hell hope you know what you voted for. There will be all kinds of cuts to Senior Program to feed that new entitlement plan that Obama and the Democrats passed, after we told them NO!!! The stupid little white and black people thought that it would be cool to vote for Obama. Well that's good you get a job and you pat for it all now it is your turn and Obama is still loading on to the debt you will be responsible for. What a bunch of dummies.
Somebody messes with my parents and/or grandparents, they die.
ROB-898387---Well if you voted for and supported Obama and the Democrats you might as well find one of those assault rifles that Obama and Congress are so worked about. BTW that gun was not used at The Sandy-Hook Elementary School.
anyone that abuses vulnerable adults should be taken out and shot. i live close to mine so i can help out in their golden years, that's what children are supposed to do.
rick-523391---So you voted for Mitt Romney? If you didn't you voted for the guy that will take over $1 Trillion Dollars of services from your Parents and Grand-Parents. It has started already. Did you vote for Obama once or twice?
Smokie,
This isn't about Obama. Please stick to the topic.
I know that elder abuse is on the rise and the last thing that any of us want is for our aging parents to suffer in their later years. But what about us? What about the abused and neglected children of these aging parents? Those of you from loving homes have no idea what it's like, growing up in neglect and in abusive relationships. I would never want the elder population to suffer in the least but when they beat and thrashed me as a kid and I threw up after so many beatings and then I was strangled and thrown across the room and then beaten more repetitivley...I am not a big fan about elder abuse many of these mean people are just aging and getting ready to die and we who have been beaten will rejoice.
Very sad your childhood was so bad. But shouldn't you blame those that hurt you, rather than wish hate on random old people. Dancing on their graves. You're just passing the bad karma through. Save your soul. Don't repeat the behavior, even in wish. Good luch with that. Seriously, I can't believe the horror a child would go through in that nuture. I am appalled as obviously it was family.
Angel D.---So as a kid you were an angel? Tell me did you grow up to be a serial killer, thief, a killer or just a terrible person in your life? If you didn't you were taught something right by your Parents. Maybe that is what we need to do today. If you were a little bit more forceful with children it teaches them right from wrong. If you haven't been in jail yet, your Parents did a good job. I see you have an education too, was that a mistake too?
Smokie,
You really are sick. What she described was horrific abuse. That isn't good parenting, that's torture. If you can't tell the difference I hope to God you don't have any kids. If you do have kids, I plan to call Protective Services and have them check you out.
What ever happened to homor thy parents? When my parents were no longer able to take care of themselves due to medical conditions and it would have meant placing them into nursing homes (seperate ones) due to one of them having memory imparement and the other strickly debilitating medical conditions it wasn't even a matter of what to do, but to step up and take care of them. My husband and I were retired so all it meant was that we came out of retirement to care for my parents. Yes, it did mean that we could not do the traveling we had grown used to, we couldn't take the vacations and go out to dinner with friends as often as we had, but what it did mean was that I got to know my parents all over again in a different way than I had ever known them before. I became the parent and they became my children and the roles were reversed. I won't say it wasn't hard (it was), but we (all four of us) learned how to make it work. For all of us. We enjoyed hours of quality time spent talking, laughing, playing cards and talking about my childhood and family from the past. My father had Alzheimer's and learning to live with it was an experiene in itself. Mom had many medical issues and actually was the one that required the most hands on care but we endured it together. Believe me neither one of my parents liked that they had to rely on me to bathe them, change their soiled clothes or any of the other things for them that they had done for me when I was a child. But, once they realized that it really was okay and that I wasn't disgusted by it or resentful because of it life became a lot easier for them to accept and we settled into a wonderful journey of role reversal.
I had never regretted my decision to step up and honor my parents by caring for them the last years of their life because they gave me so many wonderful memories to carry with me. Memories of them being able to die in their own beds at home with me holding theirs hands and telling them just before their last breath that they were loved and that it was okay for them to go home and to be waiting for me to join them someday in the future.
Every time I see an elderly person I see my mom or dad and I just want to go up and hug them and tell them they are loved. Sometimes it just breaks my heart when I hear about abuse of the elderly or how some of our elderly look so despondant and helpless with no one to help them.
honor thy parents---Good for you and you did do the right things. I opened my home up to both my Parents and my wife's Parents. It was a pain in the neck but we had them with us until their last days. Two of them passed in our home, peacefully.
Its not your kids, and mine, folks. Ever read "King Lear"? That was four hundred years ago, and it was ancient news then! Getting old, and not knowing who you can count on, is part of human history. We can only do the best we can, (Have you done the best you can, by your kids?) and hope for the best! That's all anybody has ever been able to do, or ever will be able to do.