Dori Elliott is just 31 but she already cares for her father, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and Alzheimer’s disease two years ago, and for her mother, who is 70.
“It’s been very difficult,” she said Friday morning at the Walker County Civic Center in Rock Spring, Ga. “A lot of my hopes and dreams won’t be able to happen.”
Elliott attended the first Senior and Disabled Services Awareness Day to find information about any services available to caregivers and the elderly that might help relieve some stress in her family. “I’m hoping to find activities to engage [my father] and see if we can get our home a little better repaired, a new porch, even if it’s just the steps, I’ll take it,” she said.
The event, which included 29 vendors offering health, legal and governmental services, was organized to raise awareness about what’s available and possibly help prevent abuse, said Melissa Gifford, Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Domestic Violence Task Force team coordinator.
Only one in 14 abuse cases, excluding self-neglect, is reported to authorities, according to the National Center on Elder Abuse.
ELDER ABUSE* According to the best available estimates, between 1 million and 2 million Americans age 65 or older have been injured, exploited or otherwise mistreated by someone on whom they depended for care or protection.* Estimates of the frequency of elder abuse range from 2 percent to 10 percent.* One in 14 incidents, excluding incidents of self-neglect, come to the attention of authorities.* Only 1 in 25 cases of financial exploitation get reported, suggesting that there may be at least 5 million financial abuse victims each year.* For every one case of elder abuse about five more go unreported.Source: 2005 National Center on Elder Abuse, Washington, D.C.TO REPORT ABUSE1-888-774-0152
Rhonda Whitfield, aging social services case manager with the Georgia Department of Human Services, said the lack of reporting in part is because of the vulnerability of the disabled and elderly.
“The son may be taking the money or abusing them, but they are scared they won’t have anywhere else to go or anybody else to take care of them or it can be if the alleged perpetrator finds out they reported them they can abuse them again,” she said.
“[People who take advantage of the elderly] think that after you reach a certain age people look at you like you don’t have good judgment,” said Nancy Weeks, 64, who went to the fair with her 94-year-old mother. “If you don’t know what to look for or get information, you can easily be taken,” she said.
Weeks said she just signed up for Medicare and had a lot of questions about it and about retiring.
“It’s not something you can just pick up a paper and read about all the information,” said Weeks, a Chattooga County resident. “There’s a lot of things you can get assistance on, things like heating, phone and electricity, that a lot of elderly people and their families are not aware about. It just goes by word of mouth.”
Contact Perla Trevizo at ptrevizo@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6578. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/Perla_Trevizo.