Preventing Elder Abuse & Neglect
St. Joseph’s Home Care is proud to be part of the Committee Against Abuse of Older Persons (CAAOP). The CAAOP, a committee of the Hamilton Council on Aging, has been providing education on elder abuse issues since 1985. As a member of this important network, we promote advocacy, education, and make every effort to link individuals to services that assist older adults at risk of being abused. Our mandate is to strengthen the community’s ability to recognize and respond to the abuse of older persons.
Preventing Elder Abuse & Neglect
At St. Joseph’s Home Care, we promote advocacy, education and make every effort to link individuals to services that assist older adults at risk of being abused. We have listed some tips that may help in preventing Elder Abuse and Neglect below:
- Stay as active as you can - go on outings with friends; volunteer; join a gym; visit neighbours
- Maintain your friendships and maintain contact with loved ones
- Have any cheques that you may receive, i.e., pension cheques automatically deposited to your bank account
- Have bills, such as your telephone bill, automatically paid from your bank account
- Get legal advice when creating, and/or have a lawyer draw up a Power of Attorney for Property and/or Power of Attorney for Personal Care for you
- Only grant a Continuing Power of Attorney for Property and/or a Power of Attorney for Personal Care) to someone, or some people that you know you can trust and whom you know will respect your wishes
- Attend educational seminars/sessions that are being offered in your community regarding the abuse of older adults, your rights, senior's safety, etc.
- Educate yourself about the abuse of older adults and the rights of older adults
- Become involved in your local abuse of older adults committee or network and encourage the development of educational sessions for older adults on their rights
- Learn about the rights of older adults and explain these rights to older adults that you know
- Listen to older adults - take time when speaking to them about their current situation and offer suggestions regarding how they might keep themselves and their assets safe
- Take an older friend out to lunch, visit them, call them to see how they are doing - in short, keep in touch with older adult family members and friends
Additional Resources
We encourage you to explore the useful links below for more important information about preventing abuse of older adults.