The burgeoning tragedy of elder abuse

In a mailing blitz targeting the public places and businesses frequented by senior citizens, Westchester County last month launched a community education campaign in an ongoing effort by a public and private partnership to curb elder abuse, a growing and often hidden national problem.
“Face It” flyers in English and Spanish are the keystone of the campaign by the county”™s Department of Senior Programs and Services (DSPS) and its Elder Abuse Coalition. Each flyer has the words “Face It” in large letters above the face of one of three senior citizens and the county”™s elder abuse help line: 914-813-6436.
The flyers were sent to about 3,000 recipients, including Westchester civic organizations, houses of worship, government agencies and businesses. In the business community, the Westchester and Rockland Society of Pharmacists and 340 hair salons were asked to post the flyers to make their elderly customers more aware of what DSPS Commissioner Mae Carpenter, in a latter accompanying the mailings, called “an insidious problem.”
According to the National Center on Elder Abuse in Washington, D.C., no official statistics exist to gauge accurately the scope of the often unreported problem. Although a couple of studies estimate that between 3 percent and 5 percent of the elderly population have been abused, the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging estimates that there may be as many as 5 million victims every year. One consistent finding over the last decade is that reports have increased each year.
States reported that one out of three elder-abuse victims was female and about 53 percent of alleged perpetrators were female. About 43 percent of the victims were 80 and older. The majority of reported victims, 77.1 percent, were white.
In a 2004 survey of state adult protective services, self-neglect was the most common category of elder abuse, accounting for 37.2 percent of substantiated reports. That was followed by caregiver neglect, at 20.4 percent, and financial exploitation at 14.7 percent.
Nearly nine out of 10 reported incidents of elder abuse occurred in domestic settings. Three out of four alleged perpetrators were under the age of 60. Adult children were alleged perpetrators in about one out of three incidents, while other family members were involved in 21.5 percent of reported cases.
According to the National Center on Elder Abuse, data suggest that only 1 in 14 incidents of elder abuse in domestic settings, excluding incidents of self-neglect, are reported to authorities. Current estimates put the overall reporting of financial exploitation at only 1 in 25 cases, suggesting that there may be at least 5 million financial-abuse victims each year.
In Westchester County, financial exploitation of the elderly “is something we are paying a lot of attention to,” said Annette Alve, DSPS program administrator.
“With any kind of abuse, somebody is not really going to just pick up a phone” and report it, “especially any older person,” Alve said. The recent community education campaign has resulted in about six calls from citizens concerned about possible incidents of elder abuse here, she said.
Two years ago, Westchester County officials launched a Safe Center program to confront the problem of elderly abuse and neglect in a county where almost 20 percent of the population is above 60. DSPS now has three Safe Center locations in the county to give families a place to talk with counselors to resolve bad situations before they get worse.
“You can”™t really talk about elder abuse if you don”™t talk about family,” Alve said. “A lot of times the abuse is going to be by a child or a grandchild.”
The Safe Centers offer services through a partnership with ElderServe, the community services division of the Hebrew Home for the Aged at Riverdale; the Pace University Women”™s Justice Center; and the Westchester Public/Private Partnership for Aging Services.
“A Safe Center is not just a place to go for the abuse,” Alve said. With DSPS offering a range of programs and referrals, “It”™s really for safe and healthy aging.”
Victims of elder abuse can be referred for emergency short-term shelter at the Hebrew Home in Riverdale”™s Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Center for Elder Abuse Prevention while family counseling is provided or other living arrangements are explored.
“Ideally, a person wants to go home” rather than move permanently into a nursing home, Alve said. Counselors try to put a “safety net” in place to make that return possible and possibly refer the elderly victim to day care, she said.