Elderly abuse is a big issue in health and human service. Unfortunately their situation, frailness and health conditions, their trusting nature and often their declining mental abilities make them vulnerable and an easy target for mistreatment. On top of that often we don�t hear from them. They tend not to talk about these issues freely.What do you guys think the reasons are for not speaking up and making complaints about their treatment?
I'm just guessing but I'm sure there are as many reasons as there are living situations. Mistreatment may result more from neglect than intentional abuse if caregivers do not have adequate time or training, whether in understaffed nursing homes or in their own communities with stressed out 'sandwich generation' family members who do not have respite options.
All the reasons victims of domestic violence do not speak up would also come into play - fear of losing their place in the world, their neighborhood or their home; embarrassment or shame; depression; thinking that it will end if they can measure up to some impossible ideal; fear that it will get worse; previous failure of anything being done when they did complain; not being believed; knowledge that no one else but the abusive or neglectful caregiver is available? Maybe they have figured out that no one is listening to them, no matter what they have to say.
Low or no income individuals may be neglected because there is no funding for adequate care; middle or high income individuals may be taken advantage of due to greed or just the stress of making ends meet for caregivers who can't work because they are looking after an elderly relative.
It could be more common because of lack of access to or knowledge about senior services in their home communities - or a lack of services; moving out of their own neighborhoods or cross country to be close to relatives to places where they do not know anyone; loss of interaction with peer and multigenerational groups and communities of faith; and worries that the natural progression of aging is an early stage of alzheimers.
Women living longer than men, and often being with inadequate or no retirement benefits or savings, may cause them to be seen as a burden when their 'volunteer' and low-paid work has kept the country going; it might contribute to women feeling as though they are burdens and have no rights to respectful, effective and humane care when they 'outlive their usefulness.' Single moms, widows and working women with no children might just be too worn out to speak up. Older married women may be victims of lifelong domestic violence or emotional abuse.
If the elderly person has stayed in their home communities, all the younger members of the family may have moved too far away to visit and to make sure that their loved one is taken off the first medication when a substitute one is prescribed, and that all the doctors who do prescribe meds know what the other ones have their patient taking. This can be a problem in nursing homes as well as when an elder person still lives in their own home.
We are not taught how to care for our elders any more than we are taught how to care for children before we have babies. And I'm not sure that we learn how to take care of ourselves as we age or enter different stages of our lives. Where's the manual?
I think that the AARP, city Senior Centers, agencies and program managers have all the information we need to care adequately for our aging and elderly populations - and there are wonderful volunteer organizations that do fill the gaps and could help prevent neglect and abuse, if more people reached out in their own communities.
We should probably be looking at what works rather than reacting to sensationalized headlines, to prevent neglect and abuse and build healthier communities.
Stepping down from the soapbox now, I guess...
Pam W
SE of Seattle
