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Senior citizens face growing abuse problem

Posted January 03, 2008 10:00 pm

Jayette Bolinski and Chris Dettro

Empty refrigerators and prescription bottles.

Piles of utility disconnect notices and unwashed clothes.

Maggots and insect infestations. The smell of urine.

Lonely, frightened senior citizens who don't know where to turn for help or are too humiliated to do so.

People who investigate elder neglect see such conditions everyday, and they continue to be surprised by the lengths people will go to abuse their parents, grandparents and loved ones.

"I think our seniors are our greatest generation, and they have worked their entire lives to save for their retirement to make sure that at the end of their lives they can live with dignity," said Season Young, director of the case coordination unit at Senior Services of Central Illinois. "And then somebody comes along and snatches it away without a thought.

"It's very upsetting."

Senior Services, working under an agreement with the state Department of Aging, is in charge of investigating reports of elder abuse and neglect in Sangamon, Logan, Menard and Mason counties.

Most complaints are made by family members who suspect a loved one is undergoing some sort of abuse. However, complaints also come from other sources, including police officers, mail carriers, doctors, bankers, church members and the victims themselves.

The identity of the person making the complaint always is kept confidential, and complaints can be made anonymously.

"A lot of people don't want to get involved in it," Young said. "We ask if they want to leave their name, but if they are nervous about it any way, we don't make them do that."

The reports are prioritized based on the severity of the abuse, and investigators respond within 24 hours for the most serious ones. The lowest-priority complaints, which usually involve financial exploitation in which the victim is not at risk of being evicted or going without food, are investigated within seven days.

Young said that when she tries to explain to people the types of red flags that could suggest elder abuse, she thinks of her grandmother, who has had the same routines for years.

Have there been any changes in routine? Does the person no longer take the daily walk she's always taken at 10 a.m. sharp? Is the senior, who's always had enough money to get by, suddenly complaining he can't afford medication and food? Are disconnect notices stacking up?

"The best way is to just take a look at the whole picture," Young said.

Financial exploitation cases are becoming more common, said Springfield police officer Chris Bolinger, who has been the department's elderly services officer for a few months. He previously worked as a patrol officer and was a detective for 12 years.

"One of the things that kind of disturbs me is it's almost like people are hanging onto the purse strings of some of the elderly for their own gains. I'm seeing people that are using crack, meth, things like that that, and are funding that through their parents' or grandparents' pensions," he said.

"Electronic banking is another thing. When people give their social security numbers or passwords and let them set up an electronic transfer, I think it could be so easy for someone to transfer money from grandpa's account to another account. We are seeing more financial cases coming to fruition."

Investigators follow up on every report, so that at least they can see for themselves if anything appears amiss.

"You don't always have to have all the proof lined out for us. You just have to suspect it," Young said. "It's not the community's job to substantiate the abuse. It's our job to do that. It never hurts call."

Young said investigators always try to find the least restrictive care plan possible for a neglected senior. Elderly people often fear that if they report abuse, someone will try to put them in a nursing home.

But investigators sometimes find that an elderly person doesn't want help.

"Just because you or I or the neighbor or the police officer thinks the senior is making bad decisions doesn't mean we can force them into making a different decision," she said. "They have the right to live their lives the way they want to live their lives.

"I had a senior who knew her son was taking money from her. She told me it was a small price to pay to have the company. She knew that at least she had a person coming once a month to check on her," Young said.

But Bolinger said victims and their loved ones need to know they can call someone who cares about what is happening to them.

"The other thing I'm seeing now is, 'If I call the police and they put him in the nursing home, I can't afford that. But if we leave him at home and we just silently pray that he dies in his sleep, then he's not going to be a financial burden to us,'" he said.

"In most of these cases, there are relatives who have known this was going on but they didn't know they can make a contact and get something done, or they didn't want to cause waves in the family."

<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: fuchsia; font-family: Times; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Jayette Bolinski can be reached at (217) 788-1530 or jayette.bolinski@sj-r.com.

A continuing increase in reports of elder abuse may make people think maybe those "golden years" aren't really all that precious.

But Sangamon County is using a team approach - apparently successfully - to try to prevent abuse or at least punish offenders.

"More than half the reports involve financial exploitation," said Lois Moorman, program administrator in the Illinois Department on Aging. "But most cases involve more than one form of abuse.

"Our reports continue to increase," Moorman said. "Right now we've responded to 12 percent more reports than at this point (about halfway) in fiscal 2007."

She estimates only about one of every 10 instances of abuse is being reported.

Three years ago, the department began a public awareness campaign, and Moorman thinks much of the increase in reports can be attributed to that.

"The key to prevention is community awareness," she said.

Senior Services of Central Illinois organizes a monthly "multidisciplinary team" meeting, during which neglect investigators, law enforcement authorities, prosecutors, attorneys, mental health professionals, bankers, clergy members and a nurse discuss particularly tough cases.

"We basically present our toughest case - one we're kind of stumped on and not making any progress with, that we're not seeing any solutions to," said Season Young, director of the case coordination unit at Senior Services of Central Illinois.

The group efforts can come up with innovative ideas. Police may think to search secretary of state records to get the legal name of an abuser known to neighbors only by a nickname. A banker could know of financial documents that could be used for a new approach. A lawyer could have ideas on how to get a guardian appointed, and a prosecutor might see the need to submit a case to a grand jury.

"If we do it right, it's a very well-rounded group," Young said.

Sangamon County assistant state's attorney Jay Magnuson started attending team meetings after a 2005 case in which Bonnie Howard, operator of an unlicensed senior-care facility in Chatham, was sentenced to three years in prison for involuntary manslaughter in the death of an 88-year-old resident in 2001.

Magnuson says the multidisciplinary approach is extremely helpful.

"We've always come up with a solution," Magnuson said.

While a Cook County assistant state's attorney in the late 1980s, Magnuson founded the elder abuse unit there.

"We had a unit that handled abuse in nursing homes, but it became apparent that abuse was much broader than just nursing homes," he said. "We had a full-time investigator assigned to it."

One of his Cook County cases was from Schiller Park, where the son "was keeping Mom and Dad in the basement and feeding them dog food," Magnuson said.

"They both had Alzheimer's and pensions," he said. "She slept on a cement floor next to a furnace, and the rodents wouldn't run when someone came into the room because they weren't afraid of people."

The son ended up being sentenced to prison, Magnuson said.

His involvement with elder abuse cases in Sangamon County began in 2005, with a case involving abuse of an elderly person in a licensed care facility. That case ended in a guilty plea and a probation sentence for the offender.

The office has prosecuted a dozen or so cases since then.

Sangamon County's approach to the elder abuse problem has been "very positive," Moorman said. "They're functioning in a way we hope could be replicated in other parts of the state."

The Office of Elder Rights responds to reports of abuse or neglect of people 60 or older who do not live in nursing homes or similar facilities. The state Department of Public Health has jurisdiction for nursing homes.

The Department on Aging contracts ultimately with Senior Services of Sangamon County to take reports of abuse, Moorman said. Forty-five community agencies throughout the state take reports as well.

When a report comes in, the agency gets as much information from the reporter as possible. Some professionals are required by law to report suspected abuse.

Senior Services then conducts a face-to-face interview with the alleged victim and has 30 days to determine if abuse occurred. The victim has to consent to the services.

"There can be criminal charges filed," Moorman said, but in other cases, the problem may be that the victim's caregiver simply can't do every thing the elderly person needs.

"Neglect isn't always a deliberate, willful thing, although financial exploitation and sexual abuse are different stories," she said.

Magnuson says he also sees more indications that the elderly are being exploited financially.

"There is definitely more of it being reported," he said.

The recent case of Sandra Gayle, in which a caregiver is accused of bilking a retired doctor out of more than $800,000, was reported directly to the state's attorney's office and then to police.

"Some (state's attorney's) offices are reluctant to take on elder abuse cases," Magnuson said. "But they definitely can have a deterrent effect. And the more information that gets out there, the more alert people are to the schemes.

"Information is the key to everything," he said.

Moorman said the number of reports "can't do anything but increase" as the Baby Boomer population ages.

"We'd like to see the whole thing plateau, but I don't think we're going to be there for a while."

"Isolation makes one more vulnerable to abuse," she said. "That's what makes them targets. We as a community must respond to that to make sure they remain active."

Chris Dettro can be reached at (217) 788-1510 or chris.dettro@sj-r.com.

In Sangamon County, 216 instances of elder abuse were reported in fiscal 2006. Of those, 149 involved financial exploitation, 79 reported of emotional abuse, 59 involved passive neglect and 42 alleged physical abuse. Of the 216 reports, 96 were eventually verified as abuse.

Statewide during the same period -- ending June 30, 2006 -- there were 8,999 reports, including 5,178 for financial exploitation. Another 3,912 were reports of emotional abuse, 3,478 involving passive neglect and 1,974 for physical abuse. Other reports involved sexual abuse, confinement, or willful deprivation.

Source: Illinois Department on Aging

Elder abuse, the mistreatment of anyone age 60 or older, crosses all racial, gender and socioeconomic lines.

There are numerous types:

* Physical - hitting, kicking, pushing, and other forms of battery

* Emotional - verbal assaults, such as threats to put an elderly person in a nursing home, harassment, intimidation

* Confinement - restraining a senior citizen without legal authority. Some people believe it's a safe alternative for people who are prone to wandering because of Alzheimer's disease, but investigators say there are better alternatives.

* Passive neglect - When a caregiver can't give an older person the care he or she needs. For instance, the caregiver is too busy to get the senior's medicine refilled or get them to medical appointments.

* Financial exploitation - The most commonly reported type of abuse.

* Sexual abuse - The least reported type of abuse. This includes any type of sexual contact or activity that the elderly person did not consent to.

Typical elder abuse victim: A white woman about 78 years old who suffers from dementia, physical impairment or multiple handicaps. She is dependent on others and tends to be isolated.

Typical elder abuser: An adult family member - usually a child, spouse or grandchild. They typically live with the victim, so the abuse occurs behind closed doors. The abuser usually has a substance or alcohol abuse problem.

To report elder abuse: Call Senior Services of Central Illinois at 528-4035. The center is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. If it's after hours or you don't want to report to them directly, call the statewide elder abuse hotline at 866-800-1409. It is available 24 hours a day.

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