A BOOMING PROBLEM:

By JAYETTE BOLINSKI STAFF WRITER , January 06, 2008

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.

“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.”

“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.”

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.

Jayette Bolinski can be reached at 788-1530 or jayette.bolinski@sj-r.com.

Abridged for E.A.=>>