RI’S FIRST-EVER SAFE HAVEN FOR ABUSED ELDERLY OPENS
OCT 20, 2009
By Paul Davis
EAST GREENWICH, R.I. -- Last year, a statewide agency received 315 calls about elderly abuse.
"That number is just the tip of the iceberg," said Deborah DeBare, executive director of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Many victims of elderly abuse go to the hospital for an injury, and then return home without calling for help. For years, they have had few options, DeBare said.
That will soon change.
On Tuesday, the Saint Elizabeth Community opened the state's first-ever safe haven for abused residents 60 years and older, a program based on a similar project in Riverdale, New York. The non-profit agency expects to house 20 people in rooms and apartments in its nursing homes and assisted living complexes in East Greenwich and Providence, Saint Elizabeth President and CEO Steven J. Horowitz said.
"Sadly ... elder abuse is on the rise in the United States and here in Rhode Island," Horowitz told a crowd of social workers and others at a morning news conference.
Elders in need of safe haven are encouraged to contact one of the partner agencies:
Brown University's Center for Gerontology & Health Care ResearchChild and Family Service of Newport County
Day One
Elizabeth Buffum Chace Center
Family Service of Rhode Island
Meals on Wheels
Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Rhode Island Department of Elderly Affairs
Rhdoe Island Department of Human Services
Rhode Island Attorney General's Office
Rhode Island Department of Mental Health Services
Sojourner House
Westbay Community Action
Women's Center of Rhode Island
Women's Resource Center of Newport & Bristol Counties
SOURCE: PROJO NEWS BLOG
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