Educating the public on elder abuse

Many agencies across Rockingham County that deal with abuse, neglect, financial exploitation and domestic violence against the elderly teamed up to present an Elder Abuse Awareness Day event Wednesday morning at Rockingham Community College.

Felissa Ferrell, a program manager for adult, prevention and human services with the Rockingham County Department of Social Services, spoke about how the Department of Social Services deals with elder abuse in the county. She described one case of an elderly lady who was bedridden and left without air conditioning in 90-plus degree weather. 

“When our case worker got into the home, the elderly lady was in just a t-shirt and her adult diaper hadn’t been changed in a day and a half,” she said. “All she had was some Boost nutritional drink, some yogurt and water. They found her so dehydrated that she didn’t even have the strength to pick up her water and drink it. She had been deprived of food for a long time.”

Ferrell said many cases of elder abuse happen with family members and caregivers. Unfortunately, many elder abuse cases don’t have a lot of success in court, according to Ferrell. She said the person abused will have cognitive issues such as dementia, and can’t remember the details of what happened while in court.

“Some people don’t understand that there are things they can do to help,” she said. “Just be aware of elderly people in the community and whether they have visitors, the amount of visitors and who comes to visit. Tellers at the bank can pay attention to how much money they’re withdrawing and see who comes into the bank with them.”

Making sure elderly individuals are being treated well in long-term care facilities is a job for an ombudsman. Dorian Fredrickson, a senior regional long-term care ombudsman with the Piedmont Triad Council of Governments, wanted the group to know that anyone can call them if they see something wrong in a nursing home or other type of long-term care facility.

She said she spends about 95 percent of her time investigating complaints because the service is free and confidential. Most complaints will come from family members or from church members who sometimes notice that something just isn’t right, she said.

“If you see something, you should speak up,” she said. “We will try to find a resolution, because we want everyone to be treated with respect and dignity. I keep reminding everyone that any one of us can end up in that same position someday.”

The elderly population can also become the target for scams and other crimes. Detective Stan Allison of the Reidsville Police Department said he’s run across everything from mail scams to phone calls and people selling faulty or stolen equipment around the city.

“These types of crimes are not exclusive to the age group, but more likely because of the time in which they were raised, which was in a more trusting environment,” he said. “I think the scammers take advantage of that knowledge because they know the elderly were a trusting people and highly susceptible to their scams – it’s unfortunate. Somebody’s got to speak up and help this age group.”

With the increasing population group of 65 years and older, Marlene Pruitt with Help Inc. said it was necessary to raise awareness of elder abuse.

“We have a 65 years and older population of 16 percent compared to the state average of 12 percent, and added with the increase in economic stress, it’s really created a rise in these situations,” she said. “Elder abuse is also grossly underreported, so we wanted to raise awareness to the fact that not only does it exist in Rockingham County, but (it exists) everywhere.”

Ferrell said she thought the turnout for this year’s event was good and hopes it will grow in the future as an annual event.

“I think as we can give more attention to elder abuse awareness, people will begin to take an interest and get educated in the signs, symptoms and what they can do to help,” she said. “It’s also important for our local agencies to be interconnected, because we don’t duplicate services and it makes us more efficient. Efficiency is a big thing, especially when we’re under economic pressures and reduced funding. It really forces us to work smarter.”

In addition to presentations from various agencies, guests also enjoyed a performance from the Honky Tonk Line Dancers of the Reidsville Senior Center.