Elder Abuse – Spot it, and Stop it!

Seniors are vulnerable, we all know it, yet the younger generation, the so-called powerful ones, can get incredibly innovative when it comes to exploitation, abuse, or causing harm to them. These acts are often intentional and sometimes negligent or ignorant. The abuses can be physical, psychological, financial or emotional. As for seniors, it usually starts with mild discomforts and often compounds into encompassing sadness, intense loneliness, bodily pain, unexplained fears and tears, intrusive thoughts, etc

Factors that lead to Elder Abuse

• Decreased Mobility: When the dependency on the family caregiver increases for regular needs and activities, it creates frustration and exhaustion within the caregiver. The patience and the care we need in them often goes missing. Some tend to resort to harsh pulls, abrupt lifts, raising voices, and ranting in front of them about how difficult life is.
• Mental Health: A senior with a declining mental status is treated as a burden, and one assumes telling them anything or causing any abuse will not adversely affect them in any way. They become an easy victim due to their inability to express well.
• Isolation: Sometimes elders are isolated in a room, out and away from daily activities. Inclusivity gets ignored, and taking them out to socialize becomes a rare routine due to a lack of time or interest.
• Caregiver Stress: This stress is real and can lead to physical, verbal, or emotional abuse of the senior. Sometimes, caregivers from family or outside tend to lose patience as they are sleep-deprived, exhausted, or have financial challenges, which leads to downloading anger on seniors. They may also misuse elders’ finances or steal.
• Intimidations and humiliation: Yelling, threatening, or perpetual blaming often push them further into loneliness, unexpressed emotions and fear factor.
• Frauds and scams: There can be investment scams, charities, online threats, or even healthcare frauds like not rendering treatment and yet charging for it. If all this is not detected, rectified, and saved in time, it can crystallize into something not anticipated by anyone.

All the abuses push them into a corner into the darkness of loneliness. Loneliness is too powerful for anyone to defeat alone. It requires support, assistance, care, and kindness. Every small step, no matter how insignificant, serves a purpose to meet the safety, security, and wellness standards. If parents stay alone with hired staff or in a home with full-time working members, attentive communication becomes the key. Watch out for behavioral changes, sit with them, and talk to them about what’s disturbing them. Probe their fears with zero judgment, as they may be under online bullying, career abuse, or financial stress. A little compassion will go a long way in easing them out. If parents stay alone, and you fear any abuse, then considering a good assisted living facility may be a good idea.

Assisted Living Facility – Protection from Abuse

Any good running assisted living facility is like a good protection from abuse instead of leaving them alone at home with a single staff or lonely. These facilities have infrastructures, policies, training and protocols in place to keep any form of abuse away.

• Caregivers have designated service hours and are on rotation, giving them sufficient breaks and rest to avoid any career fatigue that often leads to abuse.
• They are in the company of like-minded peers and friendly staff who will always have a listening ear to hear anything that may disturb them. Communication flows smoothly, and any issues get nipped in bed.
• Staff undergo background checks, and training is a mandate in senior care.
• CCTV monitoring round the clock for their safety.
• Financial transactions, depending on their health status, and family are looped in.
• A facility has policies in place to protect their rights and privacy.
• Constant videos and daily updates on senior residents are shared daily with their respective families.
• The online presence is limited as they have so many activities and exercises to indulge in.
• Assistance like wheelchairs, bathroom bars, or ramps reduce dependability and keep them self-sustained.

Signs, Symptoms, and Solutions

Physical: Scares, bruises, sprains, fractures, and frequent falls are what one should look out for. If it’s a frequent notice, get to the roots of how and why.

Emotional: Expressing a desire to hurt self, avoiding eye contact, tearing up a bit when unable to express, wanting life to end soon, displaying unusual fear in facing people, etc

Psychological: Lack of sleep, frequent nightmares. Imagining the world is out there to harm, sudden change in relationship with food, incoherent talks.

When some of the above signs are evident in a continuous pattern, there is a possibility that elders have gone through abuse. Upon notice, we as a family can help by providing them with counselors. It enables sharing emotions and thoughts with an unbiased party for therapy goal setting. Many times, abuse also happens unintentionally from victims’ own families, in terms of taunts, ignorance, bias, or rudeness. A counselor can bring these issues forward and help the family heal together keeping everyone’s emotions and privacy in check.

You may like to read this: Why Personalized Elderly Care Matters in Long-Term Health

Conclusion

Elder abuse can happen at any time, even to our parents. We must leave something meaningful behind for them and raise a voice against abuse. We have to infuse courage in them to forge a new life. At Papayacare, we keep vigilance at its peak to protect their self-respect and give them a platform to express themselves. It is a mandate to condition our staff to practice patience, compassion, and empathy. Elders may be a house of quiet restraints, but let’s not test them, as what goes around will come around. Even though the upcoming older generation is more aware of their rights and speaks up, if left unnoticed, it may lead to depression, isolation, and self-harm. Check in on them. Amen!