Multnomah County commissioners OK elder abuse awareness proclamation
By Allan Brettman, The Oregonian
June 04, 2010
Like many proclamations, it was a small gesture to combat a large problem.
But the incidence of elder abuse, seen in horrific detail in the community time and again, gave Multnomah County commissioners the opportunity they wanted Thursday. They voted to proclaim Tuesday, June 15, World Elder Abuse Awareness Day in the county.
"We recognize how really horrendous crimes against our elder citizens are," said Commissioner Judy Shiprack, who sponsored the resolution.
Staff members with the county's Aging and Disability Services presented a video on the extent of elder abuse. County Chairman Jeff Cogen was shaken by one statistic in particular: 84 percent of U.S. cases go unreported.
Recent local cases offer a grim reminder of those that do reach the attention of authorities:
But the incidence of elder abuse, seen in horrific detail in the community time and again, gave Multnomah County commissioners the opportunity they wanted Thursday. They voted to proclaim Tuesday, June 15, World Elder Abuse Awareness Day in the county.
"We recognize how really horrendous crimes against our elder citizens are," said Commissioner Judy Shiprack, who sponsored the resolution.
Staff members with the county's Aging and Disability Services presented a video on the extent of elder abuse. County Chairman Jeff Cogen was shaken by one statistic in particular: 84 percent of U.S. cases go unreported.
Recent local cases offer a grim reminder of those that do reach the attention of authorities:
- Two relatives sold the Southeast Portland house and other belongings of an 83-year-old woman as she fought cancer. The relatives were convicted in March and each sentenced to a year in prison.
- A 93-year-old Corbett man wrote checks totaling more than $250,000 from 2005-07 to a woman who had presented herself as a friend interested in helping him, family members said in a case that resulted in a 2009 indictment.
- A financial planner was sentenced to three years in prison in March after swindling a 95-year-old Southeast Portland woman out of $563,000.
- A Forest Grove man was accused in May of stealing $50,000 from a 70-year-old man with dementia.
- An 87-year-old Molalla woman with Alzheimer's disease lost her life savings and was on the brink of homelessness after her daughter and son-in-law persuaded her to borrow nearly $1 million. The couple were convicted last year.
Multnomah County's Interagency Committee for Abuse Prevention takes a team approach to detecting cases, Mohammad Bader, program manager for Aging and Disability Services, told the commissioners. Participants include Adult Protective Services; the sheriff's office; police bureaus in Portland, Gresham, Fairview and Troutdale; the nonprofit advisory group Elders in Action; the county public guardian's office; Legal Aid Services of Oregon; private elder law attorneys; and the state attorney general's office.
Washington County and Clackamas County also offer services to fight elder abuse. Washington County's Elder Abuse Multidisciplinary Team includes the district attorney's office, adult protective services, and law enforcement agencies, among others. Clackamas County maintains a website with information on several agencies that can help.
In addition, a Multnomah County "gatekeeper program" trains people such as mail carriers or bank employees to report possible abuses, Bader said.
"We did not want to have any abuse that fell through the cracks," he said.
SOURCE: OREGON LIVE
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