Elder Abuse Awareness (USA)

 Elder Abuse Awareness
March 26, 2012
By Erika Cervantes

An East Moline Police Officer has been charged with several felony counts. One of the charges is the financial exploitation of the elderly/disabled. Financial exploitation is considered a form of elder abuse. There are several forms of elder abuse, including physical abuse, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, denial of critical care and financial exploitation.
"Some examples of financial exploitation would be if the dependent is confused or if they have no knowledge of their finances," says Toni Nicoletto with Generations Area Agency on Aging, "Also, if there are unpaid bills when the resources should be adequate enough to pay the bills."
Signs for physical abuse, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation can be in behavioral changes or by unexplained injuries. Denial of critical care is the most common form of elder abuse.
"Neglect is the most common type of abuse and it can either be self neglect or neglect by a care taker. Neglect is the denial of critical care so, unfortunately we see that quite often," adds Nicoletto.
Most of the time elder abuse happens from the financial, emotional and psychological stress of taking care of an aging parent.
Nicoletto says, "A lot of it has to do with the fact that a lot of families are raising young children and at the same time take care of their aging parents. We commonly see families who have 3 generations living in the same home."
If you would like to report a suspected case of elder abuse, you can call the Department of Human Services at 1-800-362-2178.
For information or training on how to prevent elder abuse, you can all Generations Area Agency on Aging at 563-324-9085.

 SOURCE:     KWQC

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