By Tina Alvey
As the Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Department has focused more resources on the problem of child abuse, public awareness has risen, meaning abusers have been exposed and victims have received help.
The Greenbrier County Committee on Aging hopes to shine that same sanitizing light onto the lesser-publicized problem of elder abuse.
“Several months ago, we identified elder abuse as an issue we thought we could help with,” says Gloria Martin, vice president of the GCCA board of directors. “I read about two particularly horrific cases in the paper — one about a Greenbrier County woman who died and the other a Fayette County case that brought about changes in the law.”
As the former executive director of the Family Refuge Center in Lewisburg, Martin has extensive experience in helping victims of domestic abuse, although she notes few of the FRC’s clients are elderly.
The committee on aging formed a subcommittee to study the elder abuse issue and come up with an action plan. Meeting monthly, the subcommittee includes Catherine Hill, Joan Browning, Vicki Dove, Mary Jo Sharp and Martin. In addition, representatives from Adult Protective Services, the Greenbrier County Prosecutor’s office, the sheriff’s department and the FRC have attended at least some of the subcommittee sessions.
“Our first project is putting together a training piece for people who work with the elderly,” Martin says. “It will help the caregivers to identify abuse and neglect and take them to the next step — offering assistance to victims and knowing who to call to get that help.”
Martin expects the GCCA to begin offering the training in late winter or early spring 2010.
“This winter, we will contact area nursing homes to set up a schedule for the training,” Martin notes. “We will take the training to them; they won’t have to leave their work site to get this information. And we’ll visit each site more than once, so we can reach all the staff, regardless of what shift they work.”
The GCCA is in the process of securing eligibility for continuing education credits for those who take the anticipated two-hour training course.
“We also need to get a better handle on the financial issues involved in some cases of elder abuse,” Martin points out. “We’re doing our best to educate ourselves so we’re in a position to talk about this issue in an intelligent way.”
Also yet to be decided is the format for the training, whether via slide show, printed material or power point presentation.
Martin and other FRC staffers currently offer a four-hour course at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, teaching future doctors how to identify signs of abuse.
“We teach them what to look for and what questions to ask,” Martin explains. “A video we show the medical students depicts five scenarios with doctors talking to patients to find out if they’re victims of abuse, and one of those patients is an elderly person. It illustrates that (abuse victims) might look very different than the stereotypical idea of what constitutes abuse and who is abused.”
Another component of the proposed caregiver training involves raising general public awareness of the issue of elder abuse. Martin says the GCCA trainers plan to carry the message to area clubs and organizations.
Greenbrier County Sheriff James J. Childers, whose office has been represented at all of the subcommittee meetings, says he believes the GCCA is on the right track.
“We’re getting more publicity now in Greenbrier County on the abuse of kids because we’re charging people with those crimes, and that brings more people to come forward with information about the abuse, because they know somebody will do something about it,” he notes.
“It will work the same with abuse of the elderly,” Childers predicts. “Once you let the public know these crimes will be investigated and prosecuted, then you’ll see another trend of witnesses and victims coming forward.”
Martin cautions it may take years for that trend to fully develop, primarily because elderly abuse victims are hesitant to discuss the offenses and Adult Protective Services lacks the legal teeth that Child Protective Services has to remove possible victims from unsuitable situations.
“Elderly people are reluctant to talk about abuse. Sometimes they are threatened by their abusers with the loss of their home and whatever amount of independence they have. They don’t want to be forced to move into a nursing home,” Martin explains.
“And if an adult says, ‘Everything’s just fine, thank you,’ Adult Protective Services workers can’t do anything to remove them from the abusive situation,” she adds.
While the W.Va. Legislature recently passed a new law making elder abuse a felony rather than a misdemeanor, more needs to be done to protect the elderly, according to Martin.
“We will be monitoring the legislative issues as well,” she pledges.
For more information about the work of the GCCA’s elder abuse subcommittee, call the committee on aging office at 304-392-5138.
— E-mail: talvey@register-herald.com
