Eideard

They’re weak, physically or mentally disabled or both, and often at the mercy of people they depend on the most: relatives and caretakers. They’re the nation’s fast-growing elderly population, and many are prime targets for abuse — physical, financial, sexual or emotional. Concern among the elderly and their advocates is mounting as the number of seniors soars and more of them live longer.

The Cedar Village Retirement Community in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason this month opened a long-term care facility to victims of abuse. It is the first elder abuse shelter in Ohio and one of only a half-dozen in the country, all of them funded by non-profit groups.

“There is a genuine recognition by those who are concerned by the abuse of elders that there need to be appropriate safe houses for them to get them out of immediate harm’s way,” says Sally Hurme, AARP’s senior project manager in education and outreach. “Nationally, we’ve been aware of the need for elder abuse shelters, but they’ve been slow in coming into fruition…”

The number of people who live to age 90 and beyond has tripled in the past three decades to 2 million and is projected to quadruple by 2050, according to the Census Bureau. The number of 65-plus grew 15.1% since 2000 to 40.3 million or 13% of the total population.

As their numbers grow, the dismal economy has forced many to live with children and grandchildren, a situation that may tempt the unscrupulous to take advantage of the old in their care…

“We estimate that as many as one in 10 (seniors) at some point are victims of elder abuse,” says Carol Silver Elliott, CEO and president of the retirement community. “A victim of elder abuse can be anyone. They can be rich or poor. They can be independent. They can live in a facility.”

She cites cases of seniors who fall ill and unknowingly sign over their assets to people who care for them, becoming victims of the most common form of elder abuse: financial.

“A few months later they find out they don’t have a house, their bank account is cleaned out,” Elliott says. “They have essentially nothing.”

Others suffer physical abuse that can range from not being fed or cleaned to being beaten.

The problem is tough to spot and often goes unreported because the victims are abused by those who care for them. “Very frequently, what the perpetrator tries to do is to cut the individual off … so they do not have access to sources of information,” Hurme says…

Laura Mosqueda, who runs the government-funded National Center on Elder Abuse, says she hopes to increase public awareness of the problem “until everybody in this country understands everybody can be a victim, everybody can be an abuser.”

I ran a companion site to this, my personal site, that focused on the needs, questions, lifestyle and politics of grayheads. I qualify at least on the hair color and age factors. But, as my personal site has kind of taken off – even though I’ve reduced my participation at the “Big Blog” – I haven’t taken to time to keep it up. I guess I should review content here, now versus then – and decide whether or not I should consider resumption.

The social and political need is obvious. And with few exceptions – you know what a cranky old geek I am – I don’t consider most organizations concerned with seniors to be worth diddly-squat. Services? Yes, they can provide. Advocacy? Hardly.