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Elder Abuse Awareness

ulrichkarljoho via Flickr

Eight years ago, the World Health Organization held the first “World Elder Abuse Awareness Day” to bring attention to the problem which some have dubbed a silent epidemic.  It’s unknown exactly how prevalent the problem is, but a study from the National Center on Elder Abuse found that more than 500,000 people aged 60 or older were victims of abuse, neglect, or exploitation and a National Research Council study finds that only one in 14 of such cases of mistreatment are ever reported to authorities.  We’ll take a closer look at local efforts to address and bring awareness to the problems of elder abuse.