Fight Against Elder Abuse Gains Attention - Rockland, USA

Rockland: Fight against elder abuse gains attention
By George Chappell
Thursday, February 28, 2008 - Bangor Daily News

Front-line workers with the elderly attended a training session Wednesday on mandated reporting of elder abuse.
Knox County TRIAD sponsored the training session at Bartlett House to update providers regarding state regulations on mandated reporting.
Jonathan Powers of Knox County 911 and Anthony Camporiale of the Rockland Police Department presented talks and a power point display on "Elder Abuse Defined and Statutes."
"Older adults who are abused or mistreated are three times more likely to die within the next decade than the same age adults who are not mistreated," Powers told the 25 people gathered for the session.

A U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging found that 84 percent of all elder abuse cases are never reported, Powers said. Approximately 13,000 seniors are abused each year in Maine.
"It’s a very under-reported problem," he said.
Powers analyzed five kinds of elder abuse as physical, neglect, sexual and stalking, financial exploitation and emotional. Emotional abuse is the only category not covered by statute in Maine.
State law defines victims of elder abuse as those who are 60 or over, primarily female, although 33 percent are male, and who fall into all racial, ethnic, socio-economic and religious backgrounds.
Elder abuse occurs out of greed or a desire for power or control.

About 60 percent of the abusers are family members, Powers said.

Common excuses by abusers are that "it’s normal," illness, the victim’s behavior or fault, and caregiver stress. Abuse is a crime, Powers pointed out.
The mandatory reporting law says that any other person who has assumed full, intermittent or occasional responsibility for the care or custody of the adult, must report.

Abridged Article. Please go to SOURCE: bangorNews