Cases of elderly neglect, abuse not unusual
By Evan Bevins
September 12, 2009
While Tuesday's discovery of an 80-year-old woman living in a house filled with sickened cats and their waste was an extreme example, cases of elder neglect and abuse are more common than the community realizes, according to representatives of Washington County Adult Protective Services.
Between July 1, 2007, and June 30 of this year, 324 allegations of abuse or neglect involving individuals age 60 or older were reported in Washington County. Of those, 116, nearly 36 percent, were validated as neglect, self-neglect, exploitation or physical or emotional abuse, according to statistics provided by Kelly Bauerbach, social services supervisor for the county Department of Job and Family Services, which oversees Adult Protective Services locally.
"All these happen in Washington County," Bauerbach said.
The Newport woman, Dorothy Sharp, was hospitalized and is in the custody of Adult Protective Services after the county dog warden and sheriff's deputies found her, lightheaded and confused, in a house at 1815 Long Run Road. Floors and other surfaces in the house were covered with cat feces and urine. Thirty-three cats, sickened with contagious leukemia, were euthanized at the site Wednesday, and 22 dogs, many of them malnourished, were taken to the Humane Society of the Ohio Valley.
Sharp's son, 52-year-old Steven Sharp, was arrested on a charge of failure to care for an impaired individual. Animal cruelty charges are pending.
While Adult Protective Services workers cannot discuss the specifics of the case, Bauerbach said she wanted to share information about the agency and its work to let residents know what assistance is available.
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