How to Reduce Excessive Physical Restraints Against Seniors in Nursing Homes (SPAIN)

 Spain: How to Reduce Excessive Physical Restraints Against Seniors in Nursing Homes (May 13, 2012)
(Article in Spanish)
The Spanish Confederation of Senior Citizens warns against the excessive use of physical restraints in nursing homes for older adults as a means of preventing accidents.  Why?  Such restraints result in a loss of autonomy, dignity and self-esteem. Researchers found several physical effects in restricting seniors' mobility including: pressure ulcers, infections, loss of muscle tone, atrophy and more. In Catalonia, 20 percent of old people who live in residences are subject to restraints.

 SOURCE:    Global Aging

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Assisted Living Alternatives That Keep Aging Parents Close

by Mary Turner, The Huffington Post
May 14, 2012

Although "aging in place" may be the preferred option for seniors, declining health and physical limitations often preclude this option. But an assisted living facility doesn't always need to be the next step for your aging parents.
The “transitional home” phenomenon is a growing trend in senior housing. It’s essentially a more affordable alternative to assisted living in the form of a small structure erected in the backyard of adult children or other primary caregivers, complete with all the amenities aging parents might need. Known more broadly as "accessory dwelling units" (ADUs), this happy compromise allows seniors to maintain their independence, while their children are still on hand to keep an eye on them.
It turns out there are quite a few of these ADUs, or "granny pod"-type products on the market, such as the "pre-fabricated and kit-built environmentally-friendly homes and accessory dwelling units" by FabCab; the Inspired In-Law Cottage by Larson Shores Architects; and the Practical Assisted Living Structures by Rockfall Company LLC, which has already constructed 10 of its units in the Northeast, according to The New York Times.
Another entry to the market, MEDCottage, seems to be unique among ADUs for its high degree of technical sophistication to accommodate the frail or infirm. It offers additional safety features such as rubber floors and a monitoring system (and, with a cost of $85,000 brand new, a much higher price tag). The first MEDCottage was unveiled in 2010, but will have its first real-world test this month, according to The New York Times.
Of course, if caregivers are willing to make the investment, remodeling their home to accommodate their aging parents is also an option. With a first-floor bedroom and grab bars in the bathroom in place, seniors needing additional care can move right in.

 SOURCE:      The Huffington Post
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A Study: An Elder Abuse Forensic Center Increases Criminal Prosecution of Financial Exploitation

 Holding Abusers Accountable: An Elder Abuse Forensic Center Increases Criminal Prosecution of Financial Exploitation
1.    Adria E. Navarro, PhD*,1,
2.    Zachary D. Gassoumis2 and
3.    Kathleen H. Wilber, PhD2

Purpose:  Despite growing awareness of elder abuse, cases are rarely prosecuted. The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of an elder abuse forensic center compared with usual care to increase prosecution of elder financial abuse.

Design and Methods:  Using one-to-one propensity score matching, cases referred to the Los Angeles County Elder Abuse Forensic Center (the Forensic Center) between April 2007 and December 2009 for financial exploitation of adults aged 65 and older (n = 237) were matched to a population of 33,650 cases that received usual care from Adult Protective Services (APS).

Results:  Significantly, more Forensic Center cases were submitted to the District Attorney’s office (DA) for review (22%, n = 51 vs. 3%, n = 7 usual care, p < .001). Among the cases submitted, charges were filed by the DA at similar rates, as was the proportion of resultant pleas and convictions. Using logistic regression, the strongest predictor of case review and ultimate filing and conviction was whether the case was presented at the Forensic Center, with 10 times greater odds of submission to the DA (Odds ratio = 11.00, confidence interval = 4.66–25.98).
Implications:  Previous studies have not demonstrated that elder abuse interventions impact outcomes; this study breaks new ground by showing that an elder abuse multidisciplinary team increases rates of prosecution for financial exploitation. The elder abuse forensic center model facilitates cooperation and group problem solving among key professionals, including APS, law enforcement, and the DA and provides additional resources such as neuropsychological testing, medical record review, and direct access to the Office of the Public Guardian.

 SOURCE:     Gerontologist.OxfordJournals
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Pensioner Paradise Bangalore Turns a Hell Hole (INDIA)

May 11, 2012
By Subir Ghosh

It’s more than an irony. It’s, in fact, tragic that the city once known as a pensioner’s paradise today ranks first when it comes to abuse of the elderly.
A recent study on the state of the elderly in nine cities conducted by HelpAge India found that abuses are reported the highest in Bangalore (44%), compared to the national average of 22%. The other eight cities in the survey were Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Bhopal, Chennai, Patna and Hyderabad.
Though 84% of the elderly surveyed in Bangalore are married (against a national average of 60.3%), 68% live with their son(s) and 18% with their daughters. The national figures are 71.6 and 12.5% respectively.
Close to half (45%) of the senior citizens are classified as ‘unskilled workers’ and 26% ‘skilled’. Another 22% are homemakers. Only 21% remain involved in any kind of economic activity.
Remittances from children is the main source of income for most (34%) against a national average of 54.6%. Pension comes in next with 33%. Compared to other cities, people living on pensions as against remittances from their children still remains on the higher side. That’s where the ‘pensioners’ paradise’ sobriquet ends. An overwhelming proportion (68%) live in rented accommodations against a national average of only 29.8%).
HelpAge asked elders about their understanding of elder abuse. The category that came on top was ‘showing disrespect’, followed by ‘physical abuse’ and ‘emotional abuse’.
And, whatever the perception of abuse, it is worsening. Three of every four elderly felt that abuses had gone up in the previous three years.
Bangalore also tops in ‘emotional abuse’ being reported as the worst form of abuse they encounter – a full hundred%.
The national average is only a paltry 25.8%. One of the reasons for this seemingly anomalous figure, a HelpAge official said, is that the reporting of cases is probably higher in Bangalore than elsewhere. Nine out of ten elderly say ‘verbal abuse’ is the second most prevalent way of abusing elders.
There’s rampant physical abuse too. Among those who experienced this, 56.2% complained of beating, and 50% of restricted movements within the house. Bangalore is also high in economic abuse. Two in three said these came in the form of illegal taking over of their property by their children. The same proportion also spoke of their personal belongings being taken away from them.
And where this abuse comes from? It – hold your breath – actually begins at home. Roughly 57% said it came from their son(s), and 20.4% attributed the trauma to both their daughters and sons-in-law.
Yet, there’s no escape. Some 77.2% ‘did not do anything’ after an abuse. Those elsewhere are better placed with an average of 53.4%. There aren’t many around to talk to either. Less than 5% discuss the problem with anyone in Bangalore. Elsewhere it is 25%.
Not that such moves pay off either. All those who complained to the police said that they had to spend a lot of money both on lawyers as well as bribes to the police, besides the situation becoming aggravated thereafter. The paradise, probably has been lost.

 SOURCE:     The Daily News and Analysis, India

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Expert: Nuclear Families Giving Rise to Crimes Against Elderly and Children (INDIA)

By Ishita Mishra, TNN
May 14, 2012

 KANPUR: The trend of nuclear families is one of the major reasons of increasing crime in the city. According to the experts, crime against elderly and children rise due to the nuclear family trend as they miss the cushion of love, support and security which a joint family can provide.
According to the psychological experts, stress level has gone up in the society due to emergence of nuclear families. People believe that nuclear families will increase their independence but it is a wrong conception as they became more slave to responsibilities of home.
 "Trend of nuclear families is on the rise and majority of young couples want to raise their children without the interference of the 'outdated parents'. However, the condition of senior citizens is not that bad as most of them are self-dependent. But this has increased the crime graph in the city as elderly people and children live alone at home," Dr Vipul Singh, a psychologist at Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital, said.
He added that this approach of parents make the kids rebellious, who consider that the role of grandparents is nothing but a burden on family. On the contrary, the grandparents play an important role as an impartial negotiator between parents and kids and also provide them security in the absence of parents.
According to the experts, sexual abuse of children and murder of elderly persons are rising due to nuclear families.
"It's easy to attack an elderly person and kids living alone. If we see the recent crime graph, majority of child abuse cases and murder of elderly took place in the families where kids and old people were living alone. This gave courage and opportunity to criminals as the way is smooth for them," Dr LK Singh, head psychologist at the Divisional psychological centre, said.
He added: "I don't know why people forgot that elderly people can help the family at crucial times. They tide over any crisis with advice, experience and emotional support and also provide cultural and religious guidance to children." The grandparents can be 'valuable babysitters', he pointed out.

 SOURCE:     Times of India

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Police Investigate Whether City Hall Staffer Stole from Elderly Woman (USA)

 Police investigate whether City Hall staffer stole from elderly woman
May 14, 2012
BY STEPHANIE FARR, Daily News Staff Writer

IRIS HAD WILTED long ago, around the time her brother died, neighbors believe.
She used to clean the windows of her Kensington home every morning, but in recent years, Iris Galarza, 88, smelled of urine. She wore plastic bags on her feet and stopped three times a day at the corner store, where the owners gave her food out of pity.
When she didn’t get her food there, she got it at shelters or by picking through trash cans, neighbors said.
The deaf woman’s house had none of the things a house should have — no running water, electricity or heat, according to court records. It overflowed with papers and trash, and had no fridge, sink or stove. Mud filled the toilet and tub.
“If you didn’t know her, you’d consider her homeless, but she has a home,” said neighbor Hector Rodriguez.
Now police are investigating whether the woman responsible for receiving her Social Security checks, Nancy Gonzalez, stole the money she was supposed to use to pay Iris’ bills and to purchase necessities, court records show.
No charges have been filed, and Gonzalez denies any wrongdoing.
“That’s just the way she liked to live,” Gonzalez said of Iris, while standing recently outside her own well-kept house in Torresdale.
Gonzalez is paid around $60,000 a year as a secretary for the president of City Council, according to city payroll records.
Gonzalez, 51, has worked at City Hall for 32 years. She is a secretary for Council President Darrell Clarke, after working for years under former Council President Anna Verna.
A spokeswoman for Clarke’s office declined to comment. Verna, meanwhile, said she was shocked to hear of the investigation. She said she didn’t know much about Gonzalez’s personal life but knew her to be a hard worker.
“I’m almost speechless, I guess I just can’t imagine,” Verna said. “I would find that hard to believe with Nancy.”
A larger problem Gonzalez at one time was married to Iris’ nephew, William Galarza, according to court documents. She became Iris’ Social Security representative payee in 2005 because Galarza’s criminal record, for sexually assaulting a child, prevented him from being a payee, according to court documents.
The Social Security Administration’s representative-payee program came under scrutiny in Philadelphia last year when it was alleged that Linda Ann Weston, a payee for 10 mentally disabled people, kept many of them imprisoned in a Tacony basement.
 The investigation into Iris’ story also highlights the growing problem of elder financial abuse in Philadelphia, a crime many believe is underreported. Although about 450 cases of elder financial abuse are reported on average each year in the city, the estimated number of cases may in fact be as high as 19,000, according to Joe Snyder, director of older-adult protective services for the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging.
“We’ve been saying for years there’s a tsunami of abuse and neglect and exploitation out there and it’s been going on for some time,” Snyder said. “The one key issue is ageism. People just don’t care about the elderly.
“Number Two, people don’t think it will ever happen to them or will be related to them. Absolutely anybody can be a victim and absolutely anybody can be a perpetrator.”
In an interview with the Daily News, Gonzalez claimed that all of Iris’ bills were “up to date.”
Police say in court documents that Iris’ house had no running water, electricity or heat, and neighbors who lived near her say she lived in squalor.
The couple who owned the corner store where Iris came three times a day for free food — usually some combination of coffee with milk and soup, rice or beans — said she’d been coming around since they opened more than six years ago.
“My mother is dead and so I look at her like my mother,” said the owner, who asked that her name be withheld. “She had a home near the store, but I see no family there. I never see nobody.”
Hector and Rose Rodriguez, who live across the street from Iris’ house, said she already was living on the block of Hancock Street near Norris when they moved in 30 years ago. They said Iris never married and lived with her brother until he died.
Over the years, Iris slowly deteriorated, but she’d always still smile and wave, Hector Rodriguez said of his neighbor. Recently, Iris always had dirt on her face, seemed cold in the winter and was never in clean clothes, her neighbors said.
“The way you saw her, she was so dirty you’d be afraid to touch her,” Hector Rodriguez said. “When we used to see her around, we would say, ‘This is one of the persons the city needs to help.’ ”
Another neighbor, a 77-year-old woman who asked not to be identified, said Iris often asked for food and picked through trash cans. She said she never saw anyone visit her.

 Abridged
SOURCE:        Philly.com
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New Md. Law Aims to Halt Financial Abuse of the Elderly (USA)

Financial institutions will be required to report suspicions of fraud against older Marylanders
By Eileen Ambrose, The Baltimore Sun
May 14, 2012

Maryland banks and credit unions are likely to be among the first to notice that an elderly customer is being financially exploited by a con artist or an unscrupulous relative.

So it makes sense that these institutions take part in an effort to protect older Marylanders from being ripped off. Thanks to a new state law, they will.
Starting in October, banks and credit unions here will be required to report suspected financial exploitation of Marylanders age 65 and up. They must convey their suspicions within 24 hours by phone to Adult Protective Services — part of the state's Department of Human Resources — or law enforcement and must follow up in writing. Financial institutions that fail to do so will face a penalty of as much as $5,000.

Financial institutions usually aren't keen on more regulation. But many are on board in this case, saying the mandate will raise awareness of a serious problem.

"The more people are aware that this is an issue, the better it is for most people," says Bob DeAlmeida, president of Hamilton Bank in Towson.

He adds, "I have a father who is 85 and, quite frankly, he has been taken before on some issues and it scares me all the time."
Some of the statistics about elder financial abuse are scary. Many other states already have such a reporting mandate, and it's about time Maryland joined them.
It's difficult to know precisely how widespread elder financial abuse is in Maryland because not all victims report the abuse — especially if the perpetrator is a family member or caregiver. Adult Protective Services in Maryland last year investigated 982 cases of financial exploitation, which accounted for about 15 percent of its investigations.
Elder financial exploitation is a national problem — and an expensive one.
The Investor Protection Trust found in a 2010 survey that one in every five Americans over the age of 65 had been financially swindled. A MetLife Mature Market Institute study last year found than older Americans lost $2.9 billion to elder financial abuse, a 12 percent increase in three years.

And the problem is still growing.

 Abridged
SOURCE:     The Baltimore Sun
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Exhibition to Raise Awareness of Elder Abuse (QLD. AUSTRALIA)

Brisbane's Caxton Legal Centre is presenting an exhibition of work by artist Gemma-Rose Turnbull on the issue of elder abuse.

The centre, which incorporates Seniors Legal and Support Service, said Telling Their Stories; Elder Abuse in Our Community will explore the personal side of elder abuse, as told by people who have sought the help of the service to resolve incidents of physical, psychological, financial abuse or neglect.

The exhibition will be held for one night only on Wednesday, 30 May, at Jugglers Art Space Inc, 103 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. Official opening is at 7pm.

 SOURCE:      The National Seniors, Australia
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May 14, 2012
MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA)

Alabama Department of Senior Services Commissioner Neal Morrison says many of our fragile seniors are being abused and neglected by their own relatives.
"We have a severe problem with elder abuse in the state of Alabama. We're just not talking about physical abuse, we're talking financial abuse," Morrison said.
In March alone, the Alabama Department of Human Resources investigated 324 reported cases of elderly abuse. Of that number, 15 cases were in Montgomery County. Last year there was an average of 328 cases per month.
Commissioner Morrison says his office receives complaints ranging from phone scams to daughters and sons wiping out their parents bank account.
"He would go by and check on them once or twice a week, but he would write himself checks and leaving them without any money and they were going without food," Morrison said.
Morrision says many cases go unreported because seniors are embarrassed.
"It was a daughter taken advantage of her mother, but she was afraid and embarrassed to even complain," Morrison said.
The commissioner says last week, lawmakers passed a bill that will require senior services to work with other agencies to track reports of elderly abuse. It now awaits the governor's signature.
Morrison says Senior Services, DHR and the Attorney General's office created the Elder Justice Alliance Task Force as an avenue for seniors.
"And what we are going to do is going around the state and empower seniors, make them aware of what their rights are and who to turn to if they feel like they are being taken advantage of," Morrison said.
To report elderly abuse or neglect, contact the Alabama Department of Human Resources Adult Protective Services hotline at 1-800-458-7214.
 
Copyright 2012  WSFA 12 News

SOURCE:    WSFA

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Inspection Warnings at Nine Worthing Care Homes (UK)

14 May 2012

NINE Worthing care homes failed to meet quality standards set out by the Government in their last inspection.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) evaluates each care home on five broad areas: standards of treating people with respect and involving them in their care, standards of providing care, treatment and support which meets people’s needs, standards of caring for people safely and protecting them from harm, standards of staffing and standards of management.

It was found the New Grange care home, in Homefield Road, Elton Lodge, in Selden Road, Fernbank Residential Home, in Gratwicke Road, Baytrees Nursing Home, in Highfield Road, Grasmere Nursing Home, in Manor Road, the Victoria Grand, in Mill Road, Pentlands Nursing Home, in Mill Road, Camelot Nursing and Residential Home, in Tennyson Road, and York Lodge, in York Road, were not meeting the required standards in at least one area.

In particular, the New Grange care home has now been warned by the CQC it must make immediate improvements, after failing to enforce the recommendations set out by the CQC in its inspection in January.

Inspectors found the home could not demonstrate it had taken proper steps to ensure the needs of people living at the home were appropriately assessed, or that care was being planned or delivered in a way which met individual needs.

Inspectors also identified care plans did not always give appropriate guidance on how to deliver care in a way that supported both the individual and the staff. Care plans were also not always followed.

Response

In a statement, the home said: “The manager and staff of the New Grange place the well-being of residents as a priority, and work closely with our disciplinary partners, such as the CQC, to ensure the provision of care is of the highest standard.

“We show zero tolerance to any actions which may adversely affect service users, and this applies in this case.”

However, the majority of the care homes assured the Herald they have carried out the improvements set out by the CQC.

 To see the full CQC reports, visit www.cqc.org.uk

Abridged
SOURCE:     The Worthing Herald

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