Team targets elder abuse
Group includes social workers and police
Struggling to deal with the demons that came with depression, a man regularly hurled complaints and insults at his elderly mother.
The abuse escalated to pushing and shoving. One day, it ended up with the woman receiving a violent punch between the eyes.
“I saw blood,” says the woman in the film Decision: A Victim’s Story, which highlights the issue of elder abuse.
The f ilm was played Wednesday at the launch of the elder abuse response team, which consists of members of the Calgary Police Service, the Kerby Centre and Calgary Family Services.
The team started a year ago as a pilot project, one of 88 funded by the province’s three-year, $60-million Safe Communities Innovation Fund aimed at crime prevention.
Since its inception in May, the team has probed more than 100 cases — including neglect, and physical, financial, verbal and sexual abuse — and nine of those cases have resulted in a total of 31 criminal charges.
The 24-hour elder abuse response line has received more than 1,000 calls in its first year.
Although the voice in the video belonged to an actor, the story was based on a true incident that took place in Calgary, and is also a story sadly shared by many other seniors.
In Calgary, there are an estimated 4,000 or more individuals experiencing elder abuse, said Elizabeth Descamp, director of the Older Adult Program with Calgary Family Services.
And many of them probably feel too ashamed or guilt-ridden to report the abuse to police, afraid to turn in a family member, friend or person in a position of trust, said Insp. Cliff O’brien.
“Elder abuse, like other forms of domestic abuse, is an issue that traditionally has been hidden behind closed doors,” he said. “Victims are often silenced and feel very isolated.”
O’brien said he hopes the launch of the team will help victims realize there’s help available, and to remind members of the public to contact police if they suspect a senior is being abused.
In addition to the $1.4 million in Safe Communities funding, the team also receives $150,000 annual funding from the Alberta Solicitor General and Public Security’s Victims of Crime Fund, said Descamp.
The elder abuse response team consists of three full-time officers, two full-time social workers, a part-time nurse and a team co-ordinator.
They offer guidance to victims and help them get in touch with the appropriate resources.
When the abuser is the primary caregiver and is removed from the home, the team helps victims get in touch with care-giving services and supports.
The team also provides help for the abusers, many of whom have issues of their own, such as drug addiction or mental illness.
Today from 9a.m. to 11a.m. at the University of Calgary’s downtown campus, there will be an event to raise awareness about the team, complemented by transit, newspaper and online ads encouraging the public to report elder abuse cases.
In the case of the woman in the video, she and her husband — newcomers to Canada — had taken in their depressed son, but she soon found herself on the receiving end of his bouts of violence whenever her husband was at work.
After receiving a blow to the face she went to her doctor, who urged her to see a social worker. Today, the son is getting the help he needs and his mother is recovering from her wounds, both physical and emotional, said social worker Anne Mcilwaine.
Not all elder abuse is physical, said fellow social worker Nicole Dowling, noting that many seniors are left in poverty after loved ones take advantage of them financially.
Dowling recently worked on a case where a man with addiction issues used his mother’s money to fuel his drug habit and “he left her quite destitute,” she said.
Luan new hit marsh,c eo of the Kerby Centre, urged people to watch for red flags that indicate possible elder abuse and to report them to police.
Warning signs include isolation, a decrease in participation in events, changes in living conditions, reduction of financial stability and a change in emotional stability.
“We are very good as a human race listening to our own intuition,” she said. “We kind of get that niggling feeling that tells us something isn’t right. That’s when you make the call.”