Elder Abuse: Acknowledging an Epidemic

Lajuana Johnson

Knowledge and wisdom are granted through those whom surpassed the trials and tribulations, while preserving the integrity of our history. The elders that are being preserved should have the best care and nurture provided. When there are issues that rise of our elders being abused, action and protocol should be handled accordingly. Statistics show that Thirteen percent of our population are elders and that abuse among them are mass. Some cases regarding elder abuse are sad but must be acknowledge in order to fight and cease this epidemic. Aside from bringing this situation to the fore-front, prevention is the key to assessing our history while following our future. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, states that elders
(particularly the boomer generation) are in greatest number of proportion of people age sixty-five and older of all of decennial census history. Generation boomer make up 40.3 million or 13% of our population. The CDC also entails that we are living longer and stronger which will make elders 20% of our population within the next 40 years. While those numbers are vast, the abuse of elders are parallel. Recent study suggest that elderly abuse incidents increase 3% yearly. An overwhelming number of elder abuse/neglect and exploitation go undetected and untreated each year. Only 1 in 14 of abuse/neglect cases are reported according to the New York State Elder abuse prevalence study. Examining those figures should allow the public to make this an pertinent issue and push forward prevention so that we preserve our elders.

The elderly are being taken advantage of ranging from money scams to sexual harassment. One particular case where a man ( name omitted ) befriended his eighty year old neighbor by convincing her to give him power of attorney. He then proceeded to transfer her assets to himself and locking her in a back room. Another example of neglect/abuse, a young man whom was in charge of taking care of his grandmother but was sexually abusing her at his discretion. Needless to say, those individuals were handled with the appropriate sentence. Instance like this can go on for years without knowledge. If the elder isn't capable of taking care of oneself, abusing and neglect can cause them to an early demise. The questions that are in need of answers are; What are the precautions lawmakers are taking? And, what are some preventative measures that we are willing to take to make sure we are preserving our elders. Effective July 1, 2013, legislation was passed by the General Assembly to expand the Departments current Elder Abuse and Neglect Program to prevent abuse, neglect and financial exploitation of people with disabilities between the ages of 18-59 living in the community. There are also groups to help prevent an problems of financial abuse and exploitation. Those particular groups are great in theory, but since the statics shows us that neglect and abuse cases are rarely reported (1 of 14 cases ), more reliable methods are needed. A great way of preventing this wide range of unethical behaviors, would entail those who are incharge of a particular case, have better management, frequent reporting, and following up with clients to ensure they are being taking care.

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