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OCEAN Continues To Raise Elder Abuse Awareness

Sunday, 12 June 2016 at 07:54

June 15th in Elder Abuse Awareness Day and the Oxford County Elder Abuse Neglect Committee (OCEAN) has been educating the public about the issue over the years.

OXFORD COUNTY - It's time to shine a light on elder abuse. June 15th is Elder Abuse Awareness Day and the Oxford County Elder Abuse Neglect Committee (OCEAN) has been raising awareness since the late 90's.

There's lots of different types of elder abuse; such as neglect, physical, emotional, verbal and even financial.

Beth Haas, behavioural support worker with the Alzheimer Society, gives us an example of a financial abuse situation.

"Perhaps you are my power of attorney for finances, you might just decide you know what mom you can do much better eating toast every day and so I am going to save some money in the bank account because that is going to come to me later down the road after you have passed away."

Haas says they know of a couple of abuse cases in the county, but they suspect there's a lot more out there.

"We know that numbers are much larger than what we see, mostly because it's under reported. Statistics are that anywhere from 700 to 1200 people per year are suffering from elder abuse."

Haas adds why some people choose to remain silent when they are being abused.

"Elders are very nervous about reporting this further because of fears of services being withdrawn from them. There's the fear that if my son isn't supporting me, even though he is doing a really bad job, I can't support myself so does this mean I will go into a nursing home right away."

If you would like to report an elder abuse case, call 1-866-299-1011. It's a hotline which works all across the province and callers can be completely anonymous.

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