Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Now is the Time to Pay Attention to Elder Abuse

“Efforts to address elder abuse are 40 years behind those of child abuse and 20 years behind those of domestic violence” said Kathy Greenlee, Assistant Secretary for Aging (ASA) and Administration for Community Living Administrator, in an interview last week on American University radio station WAMU 88.5 FM (Washington, DC). Greenlee added “That if we do not act now and apply the lessons we have learned from combating child abuse and domestic violence and sexual assault to develop a comprehensive approach that brings together all of the different resources to prevent elder abuse, the problem will only deepen. Elder abuse is a problem that is only going to intensify as the population ages and the number of older persons increases.”

Administrator Greenlee and Bob Blancato, National Coordinator of the Elder Justice Coalition, who also participated in the interview, made it clear that elder abuse is a crisis.

You can find this week’s series on WAMU’s web page: http://wamu.org/aging_and_abuse. This page contains the audio and transcript of the broadcast, as well as additional resources: more of the interview with AS Greenlee, including her “Three Questions,” and material from the Year of Elder Abuse campaign.

The rest of the series will be featured on the WAMU page throughout this week, and will include the following stories, and you can click on the links to read and listen:

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