Newsfeed – Wednesday, February 12, 2014
The newsfeed includes articles and stories related to abuse of elders and adults with disabilities. Articles related to elders appear in the top half of the newsfeed. Articles related to abuse of adults with disabilities appear towards the bottom. To subscribe to the NCEA listserv, please send an email with your name, occupation, your organization/agency name, city and state, and a statement about your professional interest or expertise in elder abuse to NCEA@UCI.edu. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter! An archived collection of previous newsfeeds is available here: http://ncea.posthaven.com/
A calendar of upcoming elder abuse and neglect events and funding opportunities can be found at the bottom of the newsfeed.
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ELDER ABUSE NEWSFEED
NATIONAL, Huffington Post, February 11, 2014
When love hurts: the heartbreak of elder abuse
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-b-blancato/when-love-hurts-the-heart_b_4762405.html
Robert Blancato, Aging Advocate, states that in a recent article published in The Gerontologist and highlighted in The New York Times, researchers note that children who were victims of abuse have more frequent depressive symptoms when caring for their abusive parent than caregivers who have not been abused. In addition, those caregivers who had been abused during their childhood have a greater chance of abusing their elderly parent continuing the pattern of abuse.
ALABAMA (Daleville), The Southeast Sun, February 10, 2014
Mathis addresses new law on elderly abuse
http://www.southeastsun.com/daleville/article_9234cf60-9048-11e3-8f4f-001a4bcf6878.html
Daleville Police Chief Harvey Mathis is applauding a new law aimed at protecting Alabama’s senior citizens from abuse, neglect and financial exploitation. Mathis said the Protecting Alabama’s Elders Act (SB29) is more specific, better defines abuse and neglect of the elderly, protects senior citizens from exploitation and provides a number of penalties for those who perform crimes against individuals 60 and older.
CALIFORNIA (Lodi), Cliff View Pilot, February 10, 2014
Judge refuses to dismiss elderly abuse charges against Lodi fire marshal
http://cliffviewpilot.com/judge-refuses-to-dismiss-elderly-abuse-charges-against-lodi-fire-marshal/
A judge in Hackensack today rejected a bid by Lodi Fire Marshal Paul Wanco to have charges of abusing his elderly mother dismissed, setting the stage for either a plea bargain or a trial. “I’m setting a plea cutoff (March 10), and I intend to set the case down for a trial date,” Superior Court Judge Edward A. Jerejian told Wanco, who is accused of deliberately leaving his then-89-year-old mother lying on the floor in her own urine and feces for nearly 15 hours.
CALIFORNIA (Monterey County), The Californian, February 6, 2014
Seaside man pleads no contest to financial elder abuse
Javier Arango Vazquez, 22, pleaded no contest Thursday to one felony count of financial elder abuse by a caregiver, the Monterey County District Attorney’s office said. Arango, while working in the victim’s home, stole several checks and accessed her credit card, prosecutors said. He wrote and cashed checks to himself for more than $4,000, they said, and used her credit card to purchase a phone and pizza, among other things.
CALIFORNIA (San Francisco), SF Bay View, February 11, 2014
The crime of Ellis Act evictions
http://sfbayview.com/2014/the-crime-of-ellis-act-evictions/
On Wednesday, Feb. 5, citing California Penal Code Section 368, we, the evicted, gentrified, policed, elderly and disabled, walked into the Hall of Justice in San Francisco to bring criminal charges of elder abuse against landlords for the perpetration of the crime of Ellis Act evictions against frail, elder, disabled and traumatized residents of San Francisco. The article states that thousands of families with young children and disabled elders have been served with Ellis Act eviction notices, or have already been evicted, ending up in the streets, in shelters or dead from the trauma of eviction and homelessness.
CALIFORNIA (Yucaipa), News Mirror, February 7, 2014
Man arrested for elder abuse
http://www.newsmirror.net/news/crime/article_c87c3bde-903a-11e3-9e57-001a4bcf887a.html
At 11:15 a.m. on Sunday, a Yucaipa Deputy responded to a residence in response to an elder abuse call. Upon investigation, it was found that Yucaipa resident Gregory Taverner, 49, had been in an altercation with his 75 year-old female neighbor. According to the police report, during the altercation he repeatedly yelled and cursed at her. Taverner also followed victim on foot for two blocks with his 45-pound aggressive dog.
COLORADO, Craig Daily Press, February 7, 2014 (Opinion)
Forget Me Not: Applauding lawmakers for protecting elders
http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/2014/feb/07/forget-me-not-applauding-lawmakers-protecting-elde/
Founder of the Forget Me Not foundation discusses new legislation in Colorado. In 2013, the Colorado Legislature passed a law to cut down on elderly neglect and abuse. Under Senate Bill 13-111, a new class of protections was formed for what the bill calls “at-risk elders.” This year, the Colorado General Assembly is making amendments to strengthen the law under Senate Bill 98, which — if passed — will better define certain provisions in the law, the author states.
INDIANA, PHI National, January 27, 2014
PHI Introduces Abuse-Prevention Training to Indiana Nursing Homes
http://phinational.org/blogs/phi-introduces-abuse-prevention-training-indiana-nursing-homes
PHI is working with the Indiana State Department of Health to reduce the occurrence of adult abuse, mistreatment, neglect, and misappropriation in the state's nursing homes. In November 2013, PHI Organizational Change Consultant Cean Eppelheimer and Cathy Macomber, assistant professor of social work at Saginaw Valley State University, led a train-the-trainer session to prepare key long-term care leaders to teach the Training to Prevent Adult Abuse and Neglect (TPAAN) curriculum.
INDIANA (Dearborn County), February 10, 2014
Former SNF worker charged with reckless homicide in resident death
A former skilled nursing facility employee in Indiana is facing charges including reckless homicide in the death of a resident, according to local reports. The investigation by the Dearborn County Special Crimes Unit began when a witness said she saw the employee abusing the resident in a manner consistent with what a pathologist later determined was a broken vertebra.
KENTUCKY, Daily News, February 9, 2014
Advocates: Registry needed
Two bills that would create a statewide adult protection registry are making their way through the General Assembly, and advocates looking to reduce the incidence of elder abuse and exploitation hope one of the measures is enacted. Legislation that would create such a registry for Kentucky has been introduced in previous years but has stalled in the General Assembly.
MAINE (Augusta), Portland Press Herald, February 11, 2014
Maine launches program to protect elders from financial abuse
A training program designed to help bank and credit union employees identify and stop financial exploitation of older Mainers was launched Monday. Senior$afe, which has been in development for about 18 months, will help employees of financial institutions identify the warning signs of financial abuse and provide information to the potential elderly victim, or report their concerns to law enforcement and various agencies involved with protecting elders.
MASSACHUSETTS (Quincy), Boston, February 10, 2014
Man charged with Quincy dog torture indicted for larceny
The Polish immigrant accused of torturing a Quincy dog has been indicted on four larceny charges for allegedly stealing from the elderly woman for whom he was a caretaker. “The financial exploitation aspect of this case has involved a far-reaching and involved examination of bank and other financial records through the grand jury process,” District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey said in a release.
NEW YORK (Parksville), Record Online, February 10, 2014
Parksville siblings charged with raiding elderly woman’s bank account
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140210/NEWS/140219968/-1/NEWS
A brother and sister from Parksville were arrested Saturday and charged with stealing more than $3,000 from the account of an elderly woman, state police in Liberty said. They were arrested after First Niagara Bank in the Village of Liberty became concerned about activity with the woman's account and contacted state police on Friday.
TENNESSEE (Paris), The Paris Post-Intelligencer, February 10, 2014
Paris TN: Elder neglect charged against Paris, TN woman
http://www.parispi.net/articles/2014/02/10/news/local_news/doc52f90ee4abaac045179948.txt
A Paris woman was charged with gross negligence after an ambulance crew found an elderly man in her care covered in bedsores and human waste last week. According to the report by Patrolman Jamie James, the incident began when an emergency medical service received a call about an 87-year-old man with stomach pain. When they arrived on the scene, they found the man stuck to a couch by his own feces, and with very large bed sores on his back.
VIRGINIA, McKnight’s, January 31, 2014
Former nursing director faces up to 5 years in prison for role in pressure ulcers case
The former director of nursing at a Virginia long-term care facility has pleaded guilty to one felony count in a case involving residents with severely infected pressure ulcers, according to local reports. The case involves two residents of Brian Center, a nursing home that closed in 2012. One resident had infected pressure ulcers covered by feces-contaminated bandages, and the other had pressure sores infested with maggots, according to an indictment cited by the Times News.
VIRGINIA (Roanoke), Roanoke, February 11, 2014
Nursing home abuse leads to aide’s revocation
State regulators have revoked the license of a nursing aide who roughly handled two residents of a Roanoke nursing home and ate food from the trays of other residents. By the time of last week’s decision by the Virginia Board of Nursing, Kadeshia Hurt had already been fired from her job at Raleigh Court Health & Rehabilitation Center.
WEST VIRGINIA (Ronceverte), WVVA, February 10, 2014
Greenbrier County man is charged with financial exploitation of an elderly couple
http://www.wvva.com/story/24682785/2014/02/10/greenbrier-c
A Ronceverte’s man is charged with financial exploitation of an elderly couple after he allegedly convinced them to give him $700,000 worth of land and money. Officers with the Greenbrier County Sheriff's Department say they began the investigation after a large sum of money was transferred from an 82-year-old woman's bank account.
WISCONSIN (Wausau), Wausau Daily Herald, February 9, 2014
Plea deal reached in fraud case
A Wausau woman accused of defrauding an elderly woman of more than $250,000 and using some of the money to bail friends out of jail has reached a plea agreement. Goetsch, who is behind bars on a $200,000 cash bond, is set to enter a plea Monday. Details of the plea agreement will not be made public before the hearing.
INTERNATIONAL (Canada), Calgary Herald, February 7, 2014
Calgary senior’s care home broke law by failing to report sex abuse, probe finds
A provincial investigation found staff at a Calgary nursing home violated the law by failing to inform authorities when its residents were sexually abused. The Alberta Health report also determined actions taken by management at McKenzie Towne Care Centre eight years ago were “insufficient” to halt repeated assaults by a male resident on women in the facility’s dementia unit.
INTERNATIONAL (New Zealand), The Dominion Post: Stuff, February 10, 2014
Elder abuse increasingly over money
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/9702379/Elder-abuse-increasingly-over-money
National Age Concern figures show reported referrals of financial elder abuse almost doubled from 1100 in the 2010/11 financial year to about 2000 in 2012/13. Financial elder abuse was usually committed by family members, with about 75 per cent of reported cases being linked to relatives, Age Concern Canterbury chief executive Simon Templeton said.
INTERNATIONAL (United Kingdom), BBC News, February 7, 2014
Beacon Edge Nursing home worker admits abuse charges
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-26088644
Claire Strong, of Clifton, near Penrith, admitted three counts of ill treatment of residents at Beacon Edge Nursing Home in Penrith. Carlisle magistrates were told she took pictures of residents at the Bupa-owned home, which cares for people with dementia, in humiliating circumstances.
ABUSE OF ADULTS WITH DISABILITIES
GEORGIA, 13 WMAZ, February 7, 2014
Gordon assisted-care home closed after abuse complaints
http://www.13wmaz.com/story/news/local/2014/02/07/assisted-living-patients-beaten/5280663/
A state report says video shows five staff members at a Gordon assisted-living home beating and abusing patients. The report accuses five other staff members at Total Care Personal Care of neglect, because they witnessed patients being abused or saw injuries and failed to report them. A report obtained from the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities says a staff member at the Total Care Personal Care Home used a belt to whip a patient at least 18 times.
NEW YORK (Albany), Saratogian Politics, February 11, 2014
Mother calls attention to abuse of disabled
The mother of a severely disabled adult held a brief but poignant protest outside Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office Monday, displaying photos of injuries she blamed on aides working at a state-funded group home. “The actual emergency room physicians told me this was either a severe blow or several blows to the head,” she said, but has been told all of his injuries were unsubstantiated the article states.
NEW YORK (Albany), SF Gate, February 11, 2014
NY mum on thousands of reports of disabled abuse
The agency established last year to protect the disabled in state-funded institutions has received nearly 25,000 reports of significant incidents, abuse, neglect and deaths in its first six months, though the public knows little about how many of those reports led to prosecutions, arrests and firings. Data recently obtained by The Associated Press under New York's Freedom of Information Law show more than 42,000 hotline reports from June 30 through early December, including 14,747 significant incidents that can include injuries, 7,506 claims of abuse and neglect and 1,904 deaths.
UTAH (St. George), St. George Utah, February 7, 2014
Man arrested for abuse, adult autistic son malnourished
A Nevada man was arrested by Hurricane Police Thursday for alleged abuse of his 22-year-old autistic son, and on Friday the Washington County Attorney’s office initiated prosecution bringing the charge before the Fifth District Court in St. George. Covington’s 22-year-old son is autistic and unable to care for himself, relying upon his father and other trusted adults to do so, the probable cause statement filed in connection with the arrest stated.
WISCONSIN (Milwaukee), FOX 6 NOW, February 6, 2014
Woman convinces disabled man to give her $27K, and it’s legal
The FOX6 Investigators were recently contacted by a Milwaukee mom at her wits end, trying to protect her disabled son from financial ruin. The woman estimates her 45-year-old son who has cerebral palsy has given away nearly $27,000 in personal checks and cash since 2011. She says most of that money has gone to a Milwaukee woman named Carmen Lacey, who is a home healthcare worker.
INTERNATIONAL (Suffolk County, United Kingdom), EADT, February 11/2014
Suffolk: more cases of vulnerable adult abuse in county than any London borough
Statistics from the Health and Social Care Information Centre, which were published yesterday, show a total of 3,015 referrals were made to Suffolk adult social care safeguarding teams in the 2012/13 financial year. The county has the second highest number of substantiated reports of abuse in the country with 645 fully-substantiated and 315 partially-substantiated. In Suffolk, 2,005 of the referrals were for women and 1,010 for men while nearly half related to adults with a physical disability.
RELATED ISSUES
CALIFORNIA (Sonora), The Pine Tree, February 10, 2014
Lauri Ann Thacker found deceased after being reported missing
http://thepinetree.net/index.php?module=announce&ANN_user_op=view&ANN_id=39278
Lauri Ann Thacker, a 56-year-old dependent adult, had vision issues and was being cared for by various family members. The article states that Thacker voluntarily walked away from the residence without the reporting party’s knowledge. Her body was later found and confirmed deceased by Sheriff's Personnel.
MARYLAND (Baltimore), WBAL TV 11, February 11, 2014
Baltimore police searching for man with dementia
Baltimore police are looking for a man who they consider vulnerable. Police say the 76-year-old man is in the early stages of dementia.
MARYLAND (Baltimore), The Baltimore Sun, February 9, 2014
Her house condemned, elderly woman sleeps in a van
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-rodricks-0209-20140208,0,4417276.column
On March 29, 2012, the city condemned a soon to be 80-year-old’s house, and she says she has been living in her van ever since. The Department of Housing and Community Development's ombudsman met with the woman several times to extend offers of help during 2012, according to Cheron Porter, a spokeswoman with Baltimore Housing. "None was ever accepted," she says, and that included an offer of rental assistance. At some point, housing officials made the Department of Social Services and its Adult Protective Services group aware of the situation, but the woman does not appear to have accepted any help.
OREGON, States Man Journal, February 8, 2014
Bill would create safety net for ‘most vulnerable’
New House Bill 4114 would create a network of trained volunteers who, if resources permit, could submit quarterly reports to the courts by having court-sanctioned permission to follow-up on the protected person. The protected-person special advocate would have the ability to check in on their cases, inspect their dwellings and connect them with community resources as well.
WISCONSIN (Milwaukee County), Journal Sentinel Online, February 7, 2014
Woman with dementia in unheated home dies of hypothermia
An elderly Milwaukee woman with dementia died of hypothermia in the hospital Thursday after being found in her apartment with the heat turned off, according to the Milwaukee County medical examiner's office.
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Upcoming Elder Abuse Conferences/Training Events (in chronological order):
· IOM Forum on Global Violence Prevention will host a public workshop on February 26-27, 2014. This workshop will explore a model for thinking about mental health, violence, and prevention with the goal of arriving at a better understanding of the relationships between mental illness and risks of violence perpetration and victimization as well as the mental health consequences of exposure to violence. The workshop will be held at the Keck Center in Washington, DC, and is free and open to the public. However, space is limited. More information found here: http://www.iom.edu/Activities/Global/ViolenceForum/2014-FEB-26.aspx?utm_medium=etmail&utm_source=Institute%20of%20Medicine&utm_campaign=12.18.13+Forum+and+Roundtable+News&utm_content=&utm_term=
· The Arc’s National Center on Criminal Justice and Disability is holding its second webinar featuring Dr. Nora Baladerian’s presentation, “Crime Victims with Disabilities: An Overview for Professionals in the Criminal Justice System” on February 27th at 12:30 CST, 1:30 EST. This comprehensive webinar will present an overview of the issues surrounding victimization of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), and where various professionals fit into the solution. Contact NCCJDInfo@thearc.org with any questions. To register please use the following link: https://thearc.webex.com/thearc/k2/j.php?MTID=tcac50d94749c6b73e527d08cc6459376
· 14th Annual International Family Justice Conference “The Root of All Crime” is April 2-4, 2014 in San Diego, CA. The conference will include training and interactive peer to peer discussions on issues related to the handling of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, elder abuse and stalking cases with special focus on law enforcement response, criminal prosecution, civil legal assistance, and advocacy. For more information click here: https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/default.aspx?EventID=1231094
· The 7th Annual Forensic Investigations on Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, and Child and Elder Abuse. This conference will be held in the Kansas City Convention Center in Kansas City, Missouri from May 14-16th, 2014. For more information click here: https://www.saintlukeshealthsystem.org/classes-and-events/forensic-conference-7th-annual or contact saintlukesconcierge@saint-lukes.org
· The 3rd World Congress on Adult Guardianship will be convened on May 28-30th , 2014 in the Washington DC Metropolitan Area. It is sponsored by the National Guardianship Network in affiliation with the International Guardianship Network. The theme of the conference is, “Promising Practices to Ensure Excellence in Guardianship Around the World.” Proposals for presentations are due July 31. See http://worldcongressguardianship.org
An archived collection of previous newsfeeds is available here: http://ncea.posthaven.com/
National Center on Elder Abuse
Center of Excellence on Elder Abuse & Neglect
University of California, Irvine
Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology
101 The City Drive South
Orange, CA 92868
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