Senator Schumer Wants the Goverment to Get Serious about Elder Abuse and So Do We!

Auburn, New York, USA by Nate Robson

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., on Wednesday said it was time for the federal government to get serious about elder abuse.

Schumer said the swift passage of the Elder Justice Act, which is pending before the Senate's finance committee, would be the first piece of federal legislation to directly deal with elder abuse.

Schumer said that in 2007, about 8,693 cases of elder abuse were reported in New York, with 120 cases reported in Cayuga County, but a study from the Department of Health and Human Services Administration on Aging shows that more than 80 percent of elder abuse goes unreported.

Mark Miller, the New York state long-term care ombudsman with the New York State Office for the Aging, said the additional funding the Elder Justice Act provides would help improve the training for people who are accountable for monitoring abuse.

The Elder Justice Act would allocate around $163 million for funding programs and conducting research.“It has a huge amount of money in it,” Miller said. “It is going to provide us with some additional resources to better investigate abuse in facilities.”Other aspects of the act would combine law enforcement agencies and health care services in studying, detecting, treating, prosecuting and preventing abuse.

An Elder Research Center would also be created to centralize research, collect data to help highlight health care facilities that have a history of abuse and to raise public and professional awareness about the issue.

With 50 states having 50 different ways of dealing with elder abuse, there is no consistent way to deal with problems. The goal of the Elder Justice Act, Schumer said, is not to replace a state's system, but to augment it.

But Schumer believes more needs to be done. When child and spousal abuse were brought to the national spotlight a lot was done to deal with those issues, and the same could be done with elder abuse, Schumer said, and that's what the act is for.“We appreciate the support of Sen. Schumer keeping (elder abuse) at the forefront.” Miller said. “Ultimately it will make a difference.

”Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net

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