By JAYETTE BOLINSKI STAFF WRITER
Published Sunday, January 06, 2008
Empty refrigerators and prescription bottles. Piles of utility disconnect notices and unwashed clothes. Maggots and insect infestations. The smell of urine. Lonely, frightened senior citizens who don’t know where to turn for help or are too humiliated to do so.
People who investigate elder neglect see such conditions every day, and they continue to be surprised by the lengths people will go to abuse their parents, grandparents and loved ones.
“I think our seniors are our greatest generation, and they have worked their entire lives to save for their retirement to make sure that at the end of their lives they can live with dignity,” said Season Young, director of the case coordination unit at Senior Services of Central Illinois. “And then somebody comes along and snatches it away without a thought.
“It’s very upsetting.”
Senior Services, working under an agreement with the Illinois Department on Aging, is in charge of investigating reports of elder abuse and neglect in Sangamon, Logan, Menard and Mason counties.
Most complaints are made by family members who suspect a loved one is undergoing some sort of abuse. However, complaints also come from other sources, including police officers, mail carriers, doctors, bankers, church members and the victims themselves.
The identity of the person making the complaint is always kept confidential, and complaints can be made anonymously.
“A lot of people don’t want to get involved in it,” Young said. “We ask if they want to leave their name, but if they are nervous about it any way, we don’t make them do that.”
The reports are prioritized based on the severity of the abuse, and investigators respond within 24 hours for the most serious ones. The low-priority complaints, which usually involve financial exploitation in which the victim is not at risk of being evicted or going without food, are investigated within seven days.
Young said that when she tries to explain to people the types of red flags that could suggest elder abuse, she thinks of her grandmother, who has had the same routines for years.
Have there been any changes in routine? Does the person no longer take the daily walk she’s always taken at 10 a.m. sharp? Is the senior, who’s always had enough money to get by, suddenly complaining he can’t afford medication and food? Are disconnect notices stacking up?
“The best way is to just take a look at the whole picture,” Young said.
Financial exploitation cases are becoming more common, said Springfield police officer Chris Bolinger, who has been the department’s elderly services officer for a few months. He previously worked as a patrol officer and was a detective for 12 years.
“One of the things that kind of disturbs me is it’s almost like people are hanging onto the purse strings of some of the elderly for their own gains. I’m seeing people that are using crack, meth, things like that and are funding that through their parents’ or grandparents’ pensions,” he said.
“Electronic banking is another thing. When people give their Social Security numbers or passwords and let them set up an electronic transfer, I think it could be so easy for someone to transfer money from grandpa’s account to another account. We are seeing more financial cases coming to fruition.”
Investigators check out every report so they at least can see for themselves if anything appears amiss.
“You don’t always have to have all the proof lined out for us. You just have to suspect it,” Young said. “It’s not the community’s job to substantiate the abuse. It’s our job to do that. It never hurts to call.”
Young said investigators always try to find the least restrictive care plan possible for a neglected senior. Elderly people often fear that if they report abuse, someone will try to put them in a nursing home.
But investigators sometimes find older people who don’t want help.
“Just because you or I or the neighbor or the police officer thinks the senior is making bad decisions doesn’t mean we can force them into making a different decision,” she said. “They have the right to live their lives the way they want to live their lives.
“I had a senior who knew her son was taking money from her. She told me it was a small price to pay to have the company. She knew that at least she had a person coming once a month to check on her,” Young said.
But Bolinger said victims and their loved ones need to know they can call someone who cares about what is happening to them.
“The other thing I’m seeing now is, ‘If I call the police and they put him in the nursing home, I can’t afford that. But if we leave him at home and we just silently pray that he dies in his sleep, then he’s not going to be a financial burden to us,’” he said.
“In most of these cases, there are relatives who have known this was going on, but they didn’t know they can make a contact and get something done, or they didn’t want to cause waves in the family.”
SOURCE: sj-r.com
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Many victims of EA are reluctant to report, fearing that they might be put in a nursing home. This is often true. Investigators MUST consider the wishes of the victims. If a close family member or a friend offered to take over the care responsibility; we fail to see why the victim has to be placed in a nursing home.
Of course, the family member or friend has to show that they can carry that responsibility.
More unbelievable, in some cases, is when a guardian or conservator is appointed; in spite of family members willingness to be the carer. Sure, the courts might have to be involved, but the appointment of a guardian can lead to the victim's assets been depleted in 'unnecessary expenses'. Are they really acting in the interest of the victim?
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