News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Elder Abuse Awareness Day is Saturday, UCDD spreading the word about a crime that impacts one in ten elderly adults nationwide.
Advocate Trent Carter said there are multiple types of elder abuse. With physical abuse, a common reason is an increase in the responsibility of the caretaker.
“Some extra help with things, paying bills and grocery shopping, and maybe even some physical help, maybe they are not able to get around the home or bathe themselves,” Carter said. “And so I think those tensions get high and people’s patience runs out, but that’s never an excuse to take advantage of an elderly person or a vulnerable adult.”
Three other major forms of elder abuse are emotional abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation. Carter said the mission is to combat elder abuse by educating the Upper Cumberland.
“The biggest thing is education,” Carter said. “Really educating that it’s happening and that it’s happening in our area and what it actually is, there’s sometimes some misunderstanding about elder abuse.”
According to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, an estimated 93% of elder abuse cases go unreported each year. Estimates are as many as five million older adults are abused each year.
Carter said elderly people are vulnerable to financial scams. Carter said most financial scams are often done by individuals who live overseas through dating apps.
“That happens quite regularly,” Carter said. I probably get one of those reports at least one every other day of that, so that’s pretty rampant as well.”
According to the Nursing Home Abuse Center, in over 50 percent of cases, the abuser is a family member. The color for elder abuse awareness is purple. Carter said he encourages people to wear purple to support the mission and spread awareness.
