Christine Kennedy, a gerontologist at Moncton's Seniors' Information Centre, a new non-profit resource centre for seniors and their family/caregivers, says that the generation that today's senior women were raised in can create vulnerability to abuse. One example she cites is lack of financial literacy: stereotypically in that generation, the men were responsible for the finances in the household. Women live longer, so when their partner passes away they don't know how to deal with the finances and become vulnerable to abuse.
Elder abuse can be absence of action -- neglect. It can be physical -- from slapping to burning, including sexual molestation, confinement or physical or chemical restraints. It can be emotional -- threats to abandon or institutionalize, demeaning comments, interference with their independence. It is often financial, perhaps involving abuse of power of attorney, theft, or pressuring seniors to give or lend money.
Elder abuse is not just linked to senior's vulnerability, but to our cultural attitudes towards our elders.
Perhaps having a growing population of seniors will force a change -- they are the fastest growing age group and, by 2031, will comprise a quarter of the Canadian population.
We need to learn to be better caregivers to those who gave care to us.
Abridged
SOURCE: Times and Transcript, Canada
This abuse is perpetrated by family members and professional caregivers. Sometimes the abuse is unintentional, the result of overwork and lack of training.
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