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Serving Our Seniors, a non-profit adult advocacy group, will
host a state-wide symposium: “Understanding Financial Elder
Abuse: the Crime, the Shame and the Solution.” The event
will be 8:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. October 10 at the Kalahari
Convention Center, 7000 Kalahari Dr., Sandusky, Ohio 44870.
The goal of the symposium is to educate attorneys, health
care workers, social service, financial, law enforcement and
other professionals about elder exploitation and fraud and
their roles in identifying, reporting and stopping the
abuse.
Nationally, one in 20 older adults experience some form of
financial mistreatment with only one in 44 cases of
financial abuse reported, according to the National Adult
Protective Services Association. Ninety percent of elder
abuse is committed by someone who knows the victim such as a
family member, caregiver or friend.
“Financial elder abuse is becoming such a large problem that
it is impoverishing elders,” says Sue Daugherty, director of
Serving Our Seniors. “They don’t have the ability to start
a second career to make that money back. If we don’t do
anything about the abuse, Ohio taxpayers will have to
subsidize the victims.”
Speakers include Jenefer Duane, senior program analyst of
the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Office of Older
Americans; David Kessler, elder fraud investigator, retired
police officer and former chief investigator of the Attorney
General's Consumer Protection Unit; and Dr. Philipp Dines,
M.D., Ph.D, training director of Geriatric Psychiatry
Fellowship Program at Case Western Reserve University. The
symposium includes afternoon legal, geriatric, financial and
“Don’t be a Victim” tracts.
The symposium is approved for continuing education credits
for social workers, nurses, certified public accountants,
certified financial planners, insurance agents, nursing home
administrators and law enforcement personnel. Registration
is $50 for law enforcement professionals to earn continuing
education credits and for any individuals who do not need
credits. The cost is $100 for those earning credits for
other professions. No exam is required to receive credits.
The registration deadline is Wednesday, October 1. To
register, please visit
www.servingourseniors.org
or call 1-800-564-1856.
Catholic Charities Adult Advocacy Coordinator Carol Wheeler
is on the task force for Serving our Seniors. Catholic
Charities’ Adult Advocacy Program helps protect elders from
financial abuse through the Payee Services Program, which
helps elders to manage their financial affairs. |
