County tackles elderly abuse issue
Due to a recent surge in the number of reports Adult Protective Services has received in the last few years, local county departments are coming together to reach out to the community and expand on their awareness efforts to put a stop to elder and dependent adult abuse.
On Thursday, the Department of Social Services, Area Agency on Aging and the District Attorney’s office announced an awareness campaign which has goals to promote a better understanding of abuse and neglect of older adults and educate the public on the prevalence of elder and dependent adult abuse in the community as well as recognize signs of abuse and how to report it.
The recent trend is troublesome, the number of reports received by Imperial County Adults Protective Services has risen 66 percent in just four years. In 2016, a total of 760 new cases of abuse were received.
“Abuse comes in many guises but the net effect is the same, abuse creates potentially dangerous situations and feeling of worthlessness and isolates the older person from people who can help,” said Peggy Price, director of the Department of Social Services.
Rosyo Ramirez, Program Manager at Social Services said the increase in reports could be due to a growing senior population in the Valley as well as more awareness which has led to additional reports.
A good portion of the presentation Thursday focused on the most common sign for the public to identify abuse. The five different types of abuse to be aware of are: neglect, financial, physical, mental and sexual abuse.
Victim Witness Program Director for the District Attorney’s Office Melissa Lopez-Moore said that locally a large number of cases they deal with include older individuals who live in deplorable conditions, lack basic need and also instances where they are taking advantage of financially, including taking over their own homes.
The biggest amounts of reports received locally are of neglect, which makes up a 31 percent of the overall complaints. The other areas of concern include financial abuse at 27 percent of the reports, psychological at 20 percent and physical at 12 percent.
Price said that some of the signs to look for in a suspected victim of abuse are repeated unexplained injuries, dismissive attitude related to the injuries, being uncommunicative and unreasonably fearful.
“Victims fail to reach out for help because they feel ashamed it happened to them,” she said. “Some are afraid of being placed in a long-term care facility and want to remain at home or because they want to protect a loved one that may cause them harm or intimidated them.”
Price said the best path to reducing the reports of abuse is by educating the public about the issues, increasing access to respite care, increase social contact the elderly have and support families who take care of seniors.
Lopez said that as a result of the increase in reports of elder abuse, the county has received a grant from the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services to tackle the problem.
The grant allows the Victim Witness Program to have an additional member of staff who focuses solely on elder abuse in order to reach out to suspected victims.
To report any suspected elder abuse people can call Adult Protective Services at 760-337-7878.
“Every person, no matter how young or old deserves to be safe from harm by those that live with them, care for them or come in day to day contact with them,” Price said.