Welcome to the Tweet Trends podcast. Hey, Evac, what's trending today? Hey, I mean, that's pay girl. And you are tuned in to Tweet Trends.
It's the quickest way to find out what's trending today. Welcome back. Today is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. Let's get started.
Unfortunately, everyone has probably heard of or know something about elder abuse. The fact that medicine and all the technology is causing life expectancy to continue to go up. So we're at one point, people were only expected to live until about 60, now 70, now 80. And now they're saying that one in three women will live to be 90 years old.
And so one in three, that's a lot. That is a lot. So you just think about the fact that this elder abuse situation, the more older people we get, the bigger problem we end up having on our hands. Because now there are more people out there that are suspect to being abused and neglected.
Now, it's unfortunate because these same people that we're talking about here were once the younger people that were taking care of their own kids and their own parents and raising them and whatnot. And for some reason, there's a disconnect there, where as people get older, a lot of times their children get so absorbed in their own day to day that they tend to not think about what mom and grandma or auntie or uncle or all those different people in the village, they tend not to think about what it is that they're going through and maybe the type of assistance they're needing at that time. And it's funny because a lot of times when you think about older people, and you kind of think about yourself too, because you know when you were a teenager what old was to you, what you thought was old. And then once you reach that age, you kind of laugh and be like, yeah, I remember when I thought this was old.
But it seems like no matter how old we get, we're still in our brains, we're still a younger version of ourselves. So even if you know that you used to be balling on the basketball court, you know, crossing over on people, dunking on people and whatnot, that you're probably not able to do that, but your brain and your muscles, because it knows that you've done that before, it's telling you like, man, you still got it, you got it, go. Go school this little turn out here on the court. And then you get out there and you realize that, oh, man.
It's been a minute. And then you're hobbling to Walgreens and whatnot, getting some icy hot for all your injuries. Now, in the same with like driving, it seems like whenever you're in a hurry going somewhere, you end up behind that elderly person who is just putting along. Now in their mind, inside that car, they may be like there on the open roadway, just tearing through stuff.
And you know that that's not the case, because you are trying to go around them and like, why are you in the fast lane? You know? But I digress, because I wasn't this not this episode. That will save that for another day.
But the bottom line is we have older people out there. And it's sad, but it's true that there are people, whether it's at nursing homes, assisted living facilities, things like that, that are abusing these older people. They're neglecting them. They're having bed stores and stuff like that.
They're being hit. They're being pushed and punched. And they're not getting food. And now let me not lead you to believe that this is just happening in assisted living homes and nursing homes.
This is happening in these people's homes proper, like their own house. Somebody coming in to quote unquote help them is helping themselves to their money and their resources, but not actually doing what is needed for this person's health and well-being. And so that's the thing that we need to be aware of. We need to be mindful of.
And we need to be diligent to keep an eye out for this type of behavior, because it is absolutely unsat. It shouldn't be happening. We should not allow it to happen. So we got to do something about it.
So real quick, what is elder abuse? It can come in so many different forms. And the cool thing is that legislatures in all 50 states have passed some form of elder abuse prevention laws. However, these laws, they are very different, depending on what state you're in and how they define abuse.
Therefore, you're going to have to look up your own state's definition of what elder abuse is. But in general, it can be physical abuse, sexual, financial, emotional, and then neglect. Now, the neglect could be from somebody else, but it could also be self-neglect. Now, this one, I need to do a little bit more research on, because I don't understand how if I'm an older person and I'm neglecting my own needs, but there's some reason that I am, like maybe I have dementia or something like that, then it makes sense that I might be neglecting my needs, because I'm not able to process everything the way that I would normally process.
So I would have to look up that one on a state-by-state basis to be like, all right, it's self-neglect. One of your options, and if so, please let me know how that works. So now, once you know what it is, what are the warning signs? Well, physical abuse, you may end up seeing bruises, pressure marks, sores, broken bones, abrasions, burns, stuff like that.
I think doctors and nurses are the ones that tend to see that more often, because if it gets so bad, you gotta bring them in, you know? And then when the doctor asks the question and then they get that sketchy story, oh, Grumpa, fell down the steps, and they're looking at the way that these bruises are presenting themselves, and they're like, mmm, no, he did not, unless your left hand and your right hand are the steps that he fell down, there's no way that these bruises would look like this from falling down steps. But, so you got stuff like physical abuse. There's emotional abuse, where there's like anxiety, depression on the part of the caregiver, and therefore because they're struggling, because it's tough to take care of an older person, it's tough, especially one with like dementia, it's difficult because it takes a toll on you, especially if this person doesn't even recognize you anymore, it's like literally taking care of a stranger.
So, you've got the emotional side, you've got financial. Now, I know of somebody who was financially abused, slash neglected, you know, it was both, and the person though, that was the culprit, they were slick about their stuff. It wasn't until this person was about to pass that everything kind of came out in the open, and it was like, oh man, but at that point, it was almost too late. We were able to rectify the situation for the most part, but you know, the person being abused ended up dying, and then that was just a whole extra can of worms that got open at that point.
And there's also neglect, and a lot of times, I think this is seen in nursing homes and assisted living, where the person may end up with bed stores because they haven't been moved, and they can't move on their own, or maybe poor hygiene, unusual weight loss, because the sad thing is, people that work in these facilities, a lot of times they don't get paid a whole lot of money, but they are expected to put up with a whole lot. And so they're kind of like, you know what, I don't have a nickel in this dime right here. So old lady, if you don't want to eat this food, you ain't got to eat this food, but I'm not gonna be the one to sit here and feed it to you. So if you want to rub it on the walls and make up a castle painting with your applesauce and dumplings, then by all means, go ahead and knock yourself out, because I'm not the one today.
You know, I can see that type of attitude, and it's like, these people are being neglected, and it's sad, it's hurtful, especially like something like bed sores. A person who has lax mobility and cannot move their own body has to be manually moved by someone else to prevent from getting bed sores. And that, to me, that's just a hurtful thing, because bed sores by themselves are painful. And then to say that this happened to an older person, you know, nobody deserves to be treated in such poor ways.
Nobody deserves that. Do do do. Now that you have a better idea of what elder abuse is, and what the warning signs are, what if you run across it? What do you do?
Who do you contact? How do you go about getting this person some help? Well, here are three options that you can take to try to find this person some help. First off, if the person is in immediate danger, don't try to be all fancy with it, dial 911.
Simple and plain. If there's 911 in your area, use it and use it well. Let them know what's happening, what you've seen, what you suspect, whatever it is that they need to know, and get law enforcement involved. Now, here's two others that maybe you're not so familiar with, but are also good options if it is not an immediate danger type situation.
So now I'm wondering if you've ever heard of this first one. You've all probably heard of Child Protective Services. Did you know there was such thing as Adult Protective Services or APS? Yes, well there is an agency, and you can find the reporting number for each date by visiting an actual website that has the state resources on it.
So depending on where you are, you can find the APS in your area, and then you can make your report to them. The other option is if you suspect abuse of a person living in like a nursing home or assisted living facility, then what you need to do is contact the local long-term care ombudsman. I never even knew that sort of thing existed, but now I do, and I'm putting it in my little box of tricks. So you can also look up the long-term care ombudsman for your area, and then that would be the person that you would reach out to, and they have all of the specifics on who, what, when, where, why, how in order to make your report.
Now, if in the first situation, if you reach out to APS, and they decide that the situation that you described to them may violate state elder abuse laws, then they'll assign a co-worker, and they'll do their own investigation and everything. If the victim needs crisis intervention, then they'll handle that. There's pretty much nothing that you need to do at that point. They may contact you for more information or something like that, but do not feel like you need to then jump in and be dick-tracy and try to figure stuff out on your own.
Step out of the way and let the experts do what they do. And same thing as far as the ombudsman situation. Don't try to then do the most and get in the way. Now, if they go and look into it and maybe they don't think that it warrants any type of investigation or whatever, then I don't see why you shouldn't go and follow up with them and be like, hey, what's up?
This is anything to do to do to do. And be that little Nat in their ear. Every time you see something new, let them know. Let them know.
Let them know. Because what you don't want is you don't want it to be on your shoulders that something happened to this person and nobody did anything about it. You will at least know that you attempted to get them some services, some assistance, and that it was the system that broke down and it wasn't you. All right.
Well, that was today's episode of Tweet Trends. I hope you took something from it. Did you learn from it? And if you didn't, let me give you three last little gems here.
And hopefully that will be the icing on the cake for you. Bottom line, be vigilant and aware of the risk factors and signs of elder abuse. That is the key to prevention. Another thing, social isolation is one of the main risk factors in elder abuse.
So do what you can to stay connected with older adults in your community and in your family, whether it's stopping by, giving them phone calls, whatever you have to do to make sure that there is a line of communication there so that you can know what's going on with them, that is the best thing for them. Last but not least, if you know of an older person that will probably be in need of some type of elder care in the future or maybe one that's in elder care now that you would like to have relocated someplace else, here's a number that you can call. The number is 1-800-677-1116. That number again is 1-800-677-1116.
Give them a call and you can get information and referrals on the services in your area. All right, well hopefully there you have it, lots of good info. Let's see if we can't completely wipe out elder abuse by just being mindful, have your eyes open and being vigilant. All right, have a great rest of your day and I'll see you guys back here in a couple of days.