World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is June 15 and on Friday the Pennyrile Elder Abuse Council hosted a lunch and learn event to spotlight the signs of elder abuse and how to support senior citizens.
Long Term Care Ombudsman Cindy Tabor welcomed attendees and shared ways to stand up to elder abuse. Tabor says folks can regularly visit their older neighbors and contact law enforcement to do wellness checks on those they may be concerned about.
Along with focusing on abuse, the mental well-being of senior citizens was also discussed. Marcie O’Neal is the coordinator of the Western Kentucky Senior Suicide Prevention Network and says suicide rates are the highest for those who are over the age of 80 and this is not a recent trend.
O’Neal says the signs that could lead to senior suicide are persistent sadness, hopelessness, pervasive loss of interest in activities they once enjoyed and expressing feelings of being a burden to others.
She says many of those suicide warning signs also coincide with the signs of elder abuse and vice versa. Elder abuse signs can be a lack of interest in social contact, unexplained changes in behavior, health deterioration and changes in living conditions.
O’Neal says education, respite for caregivers, social contact and support and counseling can help make people aware of the signs of elder suicide and abuse as well as prevent them from happening. O’Neal says counseling for seniors and their caregivers is key because poor mental health play a role in both abuse and suicide.
David Startsman, the deputy director of the Office of Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Control shared that exploitation is a form of elder abuse. Startsman says he once came upon a case where two men posed as repair workers and took advantage of a woman who had dementia. He says they took her money, left her at an ATM and did not do the work they promised.
To conclude the meeting, attendees wrote down ways they would stand up against elder abuse.