150 Hear Victims’ Stories at Elder Abuse Conference

An 86-year-old widow told her hairdresser she bought a new Cadillac for her caregiver and had signed over her house to ensure the woman wouldn’t leave.

The caregiver was prosecuted and ordered to pay the older woman $10,000. The widow reclaimed her house and is living happily in a board and care home--all because the hairdresser bothered to complain, District Attorney Investigator Ken Jones said.

Jones, along with 27 other government officials, doctors and social workers, spoke Friday at “Silent Suffering,” a conference on elder abuse. About 150 people attended the conference, most younger than 65. They learned that bruises and bedsores aren’t the only signs of abuse. Low self-esteem, a sense of hopelessness and a lack of independence are symptoms too, speakers said, and people should not be afraid to report them.

There were 2,683 cases of elder abuse in Orange County reported last year. About 45% were physical abuse or neglect. Eighteen percent were mental abuse, and 15% were financial. However, experts believe this is only one-fifth of actual abuse cases.

“People are not willing to admit it happens, or discount it as their imaginations,” said Rebecca Guider, a social worker for Orange County Adult Protective Services. “We encourage everyone to report all forms of abuse, even suspected abuse, even if it’s just a hunch. It’s like putting pieces of a puzzle together. Eventually, we can go in and make a difference in someone’s life.”

Guider told of someone who had become concerned about wild dogs roaming in a 79-year-old woman’s yard and called her agency. The woman was found living alone in a roach-infested Anaheim Hills home. But the dogs she was setting out food for turned out to be dead. The social workers rescued her. In this case, the woman was abusing herself.

“Some have happy endings,” Guider said. “Some end up in the coroner’s office.”

Abuse usually takes place in the victims’ homes, said Fred Branca, Guider’s boss. In 72% of the cases, abusers are family members.

This complicates matters, Jones said, because victims do not want to report their relatives, who are often their children. Besides, most victims believe they have nowhere else to go, Guider said.

“A lot of older people’s worst fear is to be warehoused into a nursing home,” Guider said. “So they’re willing to tolerate almost anything.”

She said teamwork among the legal, medical and social groups in Orange County is necessary to combat elder abuse.

“People say, ‘I didn’t want to bother you. The police have more important things to do,’ ” said Steve Staveley, the La Habra police chief. “Let us make the judgment, or we cannot help.”