#10 Preventing Elder Abuse during COVID19

PART 1: The Pikes Peak Elder Abuse Coalition has been working to keep vulnerable adults safe for 15 years and that work continues during COVID19 times. Dayton Romero, Chair of the Coalition and Director of Senior Assistance Programs with Silver Key, discusses the extenuating circumstances and challenges being faced during COVID19. Fraud abounds with specific COVID scams and abuse is heightened as people lack support and have more stressors. Learn how the Coalition is meeting the needs. Aging with Altitude is recorded in the Pikes Peak region with a focus on topics of aging interest across the country. We talk about both the everyday and novel needs and approaches to age with altitude whether you’re in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida or Leadville, Colorado. The Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging is the producer. Learn more at Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging. Transcript: This is Aging with Altitude. Welcome to all. Brought to you by the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments Area Agency on Aging. We strive to provide answers, assistance, and advocacy into our elders. Please know my guest today and I are sitting about 10 feet apart and practicing the social distance protocol for the coronavirus. I hope you are too. Thank you for joining us today. Our topic today is elder abuse and how it is increasing during the Coronavirus pandemic. Domestic violence goes up whenever families spend more time together, such as the holidays, long weekends and summer vacations. Seniors have it several ways, physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, financial exploitation, and neglect are all forms of elder abuse. And it can occur in any family or any setting. We are here today to talk about two ways abuse occurs; one through trusted folks like family as there may be more time together, and then there are the more fun scammers. I am your host Cynthia Margiotta, geriatric social worker and volunteer with The Pikes Peak Area Council of Government Area Agency on Aging. With me today is Dayton Romero. Dayton is the co-chair of the senior abuse coalition and works at Silver Key here at Colorado Springs CO. Silver Key is a non-profit working with seniors doing many things to assist our elders. Dayton joined Silver Key in 2015 and serves as the director of senior assistance programs. He holds a BA in psychology with a minor in gerontology from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Currently he is pursuing a masters degree In Public Health with a concentration in leadership and public practice at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. He is responsible for overseeing the administration and operations of several programs at Silver Key; including case management, guardianship, behavioral health, food pantry and commodity food programs and Silver Key Silver Line. He also acts as Guardian to court appointed wards and develops partnerships in collaboration with community partners. Dayton has a strong technical knowledge and serves as Silver Key’s senior assistance database administrator and data analysist. Dayton also actively participates on other nonprofit boards of directors and serves as chair of both the Pikes Peak elder abuse coalition and the Colorado coalition for elder rights and abuse profession. Cynthia - Do you spend anytime at home? Dayton: I yeah, quite a bit of time and just some being very involved with the community. Cynthia – You are. you have a lot going on I'm very impressed. Q - So let's get started with our first question about family or persons and trusted physicians in our lives. I'm sure you've been getting some very distressing calls, showing just how intense psychological as well as physical mistreatment can get when people are kept 24 hours a day together within a reduced space. can you share some stories you have heard? With no names of course. A - Yeah Cynthia, I think in general that the climate is a little uncertain, it's uneasy. We're at a time where stress levels are high and if you compound that in an already strenuous arrangement whether it be a caregiver who's experiencing caregiver burnout, or in a situation where they have lost their job as a result of these sort of things. Those higher stressed positions really make for not so great environment and so it really is an uncertain time that's really kind of positioning people for uncertain circumstances. In terms of phone calls, I think primarily what we're seeing is individuals who are distressed by social isolation, and it's really ironic to me, (with) kind of the emphasis we're always putting out there of encouraging older adults or seniors to get out of their home, get involved, be active with the community and this totally just one 80 degree turn where we are having to self-isolate and in many cases stay home and kind of work around all the ways of getting out and getting exposed. And so social isolation really is a one of the higher risk factors for putting people at risk for mistreatment. Whether it be physical abuse, or financial exploitation, or scams, we really see those things coincide a lot of the time, so combating social isolation by keeping our clients connected has been our way of really doing our part to prevent those sort of things from happening. Q - Often physical abuse doesn't come from a stranger it comes from someone you know and trust. At this time physical abuse is increasing. Can you tell our listeners about the reasons? A – Again, I think it's really just the overall pressures and uncertainty of whether, you know the shelter in place I think causes some added pressure and keeping people in confined spaces as you mentioned and again you compound that with people like caregivers specifically where they really look to take care of these people and a lot of the time they rely on external resources (for) respite and getting out and really doing some self-care and those options may have some limitations now. And so again, that aspect of not really having alternative options or means of really getting away and distancing and really having some boundaries. It's a tough time to do that and so again the added stresses really adds to it. I pulled an article from the American Journal of Internal Medicine and it mentions how family members are the most common perpetrators of financial exploitation, and other forms of abuse. Which is then followed by friends and neighbors and then after that home care aides. And so really you see that trend in individuals who are those trusted entities, those trusted people in that older adults life and it's just really unfortunate to see where, (and) unfortunate to see those situations where people are just limited and really kind of feeling the pressures put on by this whole Covid situation that we're in right now. Cynthia- It's mortifying actually, I mean I've been a caregiver from my mother. She had dementia and to be able for me (to serve as a caregiver) I was able to get out, I continued working, I continued date night with my husband, I these little things that gave me breathing room from being a caregiver were so helpful to me. I truly advocate for that. But right now the movie theaters closed, you know you know the restaurants are closed, you can't go or do anything away and so I can see how it just becomes crazy scary for the person who's being abused. Q - Can victims of family abuse disregard the orders? Our governor has said we need to stay at home. Can they say I need to get away if they need to seek some kind of refuge? And then where can they go? A – Yeah, safety is always number one and I know it is a little bit of a dilemma considering Covid, and exposures, and limiting that, but whenever that safety risk is right there and you're living it on a daily basis, I really think there are that's why we have a central and critical providers and that is our law enforcement. That is our caseworkers through adult Protective Services, who are still on the front lines and seeing these circumstances in the community, to address them and prevent them. And so with that being said, safety is always number one, especially in physical abuse situations and any other mistreatments. We want to ensure that, you know, those paths to getting refuge and getting access to safety is there. And the means of doing that is getting connected with our law enforcement. And we as a silver key as a nonprofit that serves older adults, we have an accountability where we are mandated reporters and so we really have to be on the lookout, have a keen eye and be really observant within our interactions with people who are reaching out for support, to notice any sort of things out of the ordinary that may be indicators of any abuse going on. And also make sure that our staff here are equipped with the answers and the resources to give those victims if they are experiencing that abuse. So, Law Enforcement and Adult Protective Services are key entities in finding a pathway to safety. Q - So they can get away through contacting Adult Protective Services, they can call them, their phone numbers are readily available, they can also call Silver Key? A - I, yeah, I see us as really being a holistic support and we are seeing a lot of individuals who, interestingly enough, really kind of bypassing some of their emotional needs, but more so focused on, you know how are they gonna get their next meal? And so we're seeing a lot of food insecure, a lot of food insecurity come out, and so we you know our Silver Line is receiving near, I think in March received 3,700 phone calls, just from individuals in the community who are looking to get connected. Whether it be for Meals on Wheels, or getting commodities, grocery items or those sort of things. So we're having to be really nimble...