Many older adults end up abused or in abusive situations. Their declining health requires far more advanced care, and many of the facilities these people are placed in are not equipped to deal with it properly. Corners are cut, and unsupported staff becomes irritated and even aggressive.
That’s why it’s estimated that around 10% of elders end up in abusive situations. In the United States, it’s estimated that 5 million elders experience abuse every year. The worse their health and their ability to advocate for themselves, the worse the abuse they may experience can be.
Around the world, it’s estimated that 1 in 6 people over the age of 60 experience at least neglect, if not abuse in community settings. Abuse is particularly high in nursing and other long-term care homes, where 2 in 3 staff report committing at least some form of abuse in the past year alone.
Examples of Elder Abuse
Elder abuse can come in many different forms. The most common is neglect. Staff workers simply don’t provide the level of care necessary to look after those in their charge properly. This may be due to a systemic issue in the organization itself or an individual issue.
Financial or material exploitation is another huge issue that commonly affects the elderly.
As for the more severe crimes, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional, or psychological abuse, physical neglect is at the top of the list.
What You Can Do to Stop Elder Abuse
Elder abuse, unfortunately, occurs most often in the home, which is why it’s estimated that only one in 24 cases gets reported. Engaged loved ones, however, can put a stop to elder abuse simply by advocating for their loved ones.
What does this mean? It means visiting often. It means checking in on how well your loved one is doing. Also, it means being engaged and active and available to be there so that your loved one can report any issues to your first-hand.
If there is a case of elder abuse, then you need to take it seriously, and that means more than just going to the organization in question. Plenty of times rampant abuse is due to a top-down issue, so you’ll want to hire this personal injury lawyer in Winter Park.
Such personal accident injury lawyers take on car accidents, slip and fall accidents, medical malpractice, and, yes, elder abuse cases.
Usually, oversight alone is all that is necessary to help your loved ones avoid many of the issues of elder neglect. To help them further, teach them about things like common cams. AI has now made the issue of scam calls and other similar crimes much more rampant.
Teach your loved ones how to stay safe and what to do if ever asked for money for any reason. From getting in touch with you to creating a safe code that only you would use when asking for something like funds, there are many ways you can help your elderly loved one avoid many of the financial scams impacting seniors today.
Most of all, however, just be there. So long as there’s a support network, it’s a lot harder for staff or neglect issues to slip under the cracks.
This is Kyle Thomas, a professional writer, and a news editor. I started my career as a blogger who writes on various topics and then I decided that I should join a NEWS agency where I can work as a NEWS reporter. So, I joined a renowned agency in the town as an internet and after getting 2 years of experience, now I am working as a senior NEWS reporter for The Daily NEWS Times.
