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You can help prevent seniors from suffering abuse and neglect

Resources for detecting, stopping abuse highlighted on World Elder Abuse Awareness Day
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Take Time for Seniors video features Revelstoke youths Claire Brown and Aiden Hill, as well as a number of seniors in Revelstoke. (Contributed)

Emotional abuse, physical abuse, psychological abuse, financial abuse, sexual abuse.

These are forms elder abuse can take.

“We all have a role to play in helping to eliminate elder abuse by educating ourselves on the signs and symptoms of elder abuse and reporting concerns to the appropriate people,” said B.C.’s seniors advocate Isobel Mackenzie for World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2020 on June 15.

In an effort to help educate youth on elder abuse and neglect, the Revelstoke Community Response Network recently released a video titled Take Time for Seniors.

The video is meant to build empathy, curiosity and interest towards seniors and their stories. It features Revelstoke youths Claire Brown and Aiden Hill, as well as a number of seniors in Revelstoke.

A survey in 2016 by the National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly suggested 766,000 Canadian seniors were abused the year prior.

In May, the Canadian military discovered horrific allegations of elder abuse in five Ontario long-term care homes, when they were called in to help the provincial system. The military provided a graphic report to the provincial and federal government of residents being bullied, drugged, improperly fed and left for days in soiled bedding.

More than 3,000 care home residents have died in Canada due to COVID-19.

Read more: ‘You are not alone’: B.C. pledges $500K to help family caregivers amid COVID-19 pandemic

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Jane Shirley with the SAFE Society said the Shuswap Community Resource Network, a group of community members and organizations, will continue building awareness and educating seniors, friends, family and community agencies on how to recognize the signs of abuse and neglect and where to go for support.

If you are being abused or think you know someone who is, here’s help.

• If in immediate danger, call 911.

• Seniors Abuse & Information Line (SAIL). SAIL is a safe place for older adults, and those who care about them, to talk to someone about situations where they feel they are being abused or mistreated, or to receive information about elder abuse prevention. Available 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily (excluding holidays). Phone: 604-437-1940 or toll-free: 1-866-437-1940. Language interpretation is available Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

• BC Seniors Advocate. The Office of the Seniors Advocate monitors and analyzes seniors services and issues in B.C., and makes recommendations to government and service providers to address systemic issues. Call toll-free: 1-877-952-3181 or visit website: https://www.seniorsadvocatebc.ca/

• 211 BC - Resources directory in B.C. This service is free, confidential, multilingual, and available 24/7. Phone 2-1-1 to talk with an information & referral specialist or visit website: www.bc211.ca.

• Call the Shuswap Better at Home programs: 250-253-2749 or visit the website.

• Visit local Senior’s Resource Centres

• Contact the SAFE Society at www.safesociety.ca or by calling 250-832-9616.

The Seniors Advocate provides information on Privacy Tips for Seniors as well as Understanding Elder Financial Abuse.

The BC Association of Community Response Networks website also provides resources.

Jane Shirley emphasizes that community connection and awareness are key to identifying and preventing all manners of abuse and neglect.

- With files from the Revelstoke Review



newsroom@saobserver.net

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Martha Wickett

About the Author: Martha Wickett

came to Salmon Arm in May of 2004 to work at the Observer. I was looking for a change from the hustle and bustle of the Lower Mainland, where I had spent more than a decade working in community newspapers.
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