Elder Abuse: Arresting the ‘Crime of the ‘90s’

One woman placed trust in a gardener who feigned kindness while helping himself to $200 of her cash. Another, blind in her old age, wasted away in a board-and-care home because the woman who brought her lunch tray never told her it was there and for months took it away untouched.

The caregiver of yet another man would help him to the bathroom, then often leave him there for more than an hour.

The stories are endless and varied. The victims share one trait: They are old, often physically helpless or mentally weakened, and usually reluctant to seek help.

Today, more than a hundred attorneys, bank officials, health-care workers, law enforcement agents, senior citizens and their loved ones will gather for a daylong conference on elder abuse, dubbed by Orange County Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi “the crime of the ‘90s.”

The conference, titled “Silent Suffering: Elder Abuse in Orange County” in reference to the instances of abuse that go unnoticed or unreported, began as a county brainchild years ago but was shelved by the 1994 bankruptcy.

Now, thanks to help from the city of Irvine’s Senior Services, the Irvine Senior Foundation and the UC Irvine College of Medicine’s Academic Geriatric Resource Center, the workshop is set to go.

The goal: to unite professionals who encounter elder abuse, teach them what to look for, and share that knowledge with anyone else who is willing to listen. Among those who have already preregistered are an Orange County couple who manage a mobile home park for seniors and often suspect abuse but don’t know whom to call.

“There’s physical, emotional, financial abuse,” said Dr. Lin Nelson, a neuropsychologist who administers the geriatric resource center at UCI’s College of Medicine and organized the conference.

“Sometimes the abuse is more difficult to detect with older adults. Elderly people fall a lot and bruise easily, but if it gets excessive and they’re not cared for, that becomes abuse.”

Reported cases of elder abuse have increased 56% in Orange County since 1990, Nelson said. It is believed that many more cases go unreported.

The conference will feature local senior activist Jean Pond, who for 10 years ran a nonprofit agency to help seniors find work and is now on the board of the Irvine Senior Foundation.

“The workshop is a bright light that shines on an issue that thrives in darkness,” said Pond, 78, who will give the keynote address. “I’m very much aware of it since it’s my generation that’s mostly affected. . . . Well-meaning people don’t know what to do, so [they] don’t do anything.”

Other featured speakers include Capizzi; Board of Supervisors Chairman William G. Steiner; Fred Branca, director of adult and employment services for Orange County’s Social Services Agency; Sheriff Brad Gates; and Thomas Cesario, dean of UCI’s College of Medicine.

Most professionals, including social workers, police and attorneys, can obtain continuing education credits by attending the workshop, Nelson said.

Sheriff’s Lt. Ron Wilkerson said a large group of deputies from his department will attend. Others who deal with law enforcement will learn just how difficult elder abuse cases can be to investigate and how to assist investigators in that task. Investigators, in turn, will learn what to look for to either confirm elder abuse or rule it out.

“Why is it significant?” Wilkerson said of the conference. “Most importantly, because we have a greater number of people going into that age bracket and law enforcement needs to be aware that these types of problems exist and be able to recognize them.”

Community leaders who have worked in the trenches of elder abuse for years lauded the workshop as unprecedented in its scope for Orange County.

“It’s not just for police or just for social workers,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Jane Shade, who supervises the district attorney’s family violence unit. “It’s really covering the whole panoply of everybody who can have some dealings with elders.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Most Abused Adults Are Elderly

Abuse of adults, the vast majority of whom are elderly and/or female, has leveled off in Orange County after nearly tripling from 1986 to 1995. Most of the instances of abuse occurring in 1996 were perpetrated by family members:

Victim Profile

65 and older: 78%

18-64 years: 22%

Female: 70%

Male: 30%

****

Adult Abuse Reports

1986: 964

1987: 903

1988: 946

1989: 1,180

1990: 1,783

1991: 1,780

1992: 1,767

1993: 2,044

1994: 2,385

1995: 2,713

1996: 2,683

****

Abusers (1993-1995)

Offspring: 34%

Spouse: 18%

Related other: 15%

Caretaker: 11%

Other*: 12%

Unknown: 10%

* Includes parents and unrelated individuals

****

What to Look For

Signs that abuse may be occurring:

* Sudden change in victim’s behavior

* Alcohol, drug abuse or mental illness in caregiver’s home

* Victim shows signs of injuries or is repeatedly ill

* Time lapse between sustained injuries and emergency room care

* Caregiver or victim is hostile, frustrated, secretive

****

Whom to Call

Report elder abuse to the Social Services Agency Adult Abuse Registry at (714) 566-3116. If abuse occurred in a long-term facility, call (714) 863-0323.

Source: Orange County Social Services Agency Adult Protective Services

Researched by APRIL JACKSON / Los Angeles Times

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Most Abused Adults Are Elderly

Abuse of adults, the vast majority of whom are elderly and/ or female, has leveled off in Orange County after nearly tripling from 1986 to 1995. Most of the instances of abuse occurring in 1996 were perpetrated by family members.

*

1996 Abusers

Caretaker: 11%

Unknown: 10%

Other:*12%

Related other: 15%

*

Abuse Profile

65 or older: 78%

18-64 years: 22%

*

Male: 30%

Female: 70%

*

What to Look For

Signs that abuse may be occurring:

Sudden change in victim’s behavior

Alcohol, drug abuse or mental illness in caregiver’s home

Victim shows signs of injuries or is repeatedly ill

Time laspse between sustained injuies and emergency room care

*

Whom to Call

Report elder abuse to the Social Services Agency Adult Abuse Registry at (714) 566-3116. If abuse occurred in a louen a long-term facility, call (714) 863-0323.

Source: Orange County Social Services Agency Adult Protective Services; Researched by APRIL JACKSON / Los Angeles Times