Elder Abuse Awareness

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.