A global community will be gathering to discuss a very important topic. A tough one, but one about elder abuse. So on June 15th we will have Elder Abuse Awareness Day. And it’s really set up so that we can understand more about who’s at risk, why they’re at risk, and get a better understanding of how we can support people and prevent some of this from happening in the beginning.

So who’s at risk? Anyone and everyone. Anyone. Any socio economic level, any senior at any home, any facility. Everyone is at risk. So we need to be aware of what types of abuse is out there. The typical things, I mean obvious, physical abuse. That’s one thing that we may see with somebody. But things that are not so obvious, things with emotional abuse: badgering someone, neglecting someone, keeping services like health care or hygiene away from them.

The other thing is some people self neglect themselves. So maybe by the fact that they are not taking care of themselves that is also considered abuse. Financial abuse is also a big issue. We see a lot of these lottery scams, and other issues that are really so financially damaging to so many seniors. Where does this happen? It happens at home, it happens in facilities, and we just need to bring more awareness, so that we can report these issues.

How do you report an issue like this? Sometimes we get a little bit nervous about whether or not we should bring these issues to someone. But if we talk to our local police, if we go to Adult Protective Services, if we go to a trusted adviser, say a social worker at the hospital, or social worker at a facility, and let them know, “I’m concerned. I have a problem with what I’m seeing here”, and report what we see happening, then maybe we can make a difference in the life of a senior.

So thank you for your awareness of elder abuse, and maybe we can make a difference.