Shelter continued on C2
MASON — A local retirement community is set to launch Ohio’s first elder abuse prevention shelter on New Year’s Day.
Carol Silver Elliott, chief operating officer and president of Cedar Village Retirement Center, said the 162-bed long-term facility will house the Shalom Center for Elder Abuse Protection which will be the first such shelter in Ohio and one of a handful in the nation.
“As a faith-based organization, our commitment to the community and our elders reaches far beyond our walls,” she said. “This is our obligation and part of our social and community responsibility.”
Once it opens, it will serve Warren, Butler, Hamilton and Clermont counties, Elliott said.
“When we talk about elder abuse, it’s something that’s significant, something that’s intentional and purposeful by a caregiver or trusted individual or a family member,” she said. Elliott said forms of elder abuse includes neglect; financial, psychological, emotional, verbal, sexual or physical abuse; threats; financial abuse or exploitation; or abandonment.
While there are no recent statistics on elder abuse, Elliott said many cases go unreported because victims don’t want to get a family member into legal trouble, they don’t know where to turn or they are simply too proud to report an incident.
According to Elliott, research indicates that one in 10 elders may experience some type of abuse and that only one in five cases are reported to authorities. Nationally, annual estimates of elder abuse range between 700,000 and 3.5 million victims.
In calendar year 2009, there were 16,208 cases statewide reported to Adult Protective Services in Ohio’s 88 counties. APS is a department of Job and Family Services that is charged to assist the elderly who are in danger of harm, unable to protect themselves, and/or have no one to assist them.
During that same year, Warren County reported 233 cases, with one case deemed as an emergency and 208 cases that were in need of protective services. Butler County had 539 cases reported with 71 deemed as emergencies and 284 that required protective services. There were eight cases where protective services were not available.
Elliott said many communities have shelters for domestic violence victims, but those shelters do not fully meet the needs of older adults even though some of the issues may be similar.
“Our goal is to provide an emergency shelter for 90 to 120 days with a plan to discharge them into the least restrictive and safest environment possible,” she said. “We believe we’ll have three to four admissions to the shelter a year.”
Services that are to be provided include medical, nursing and therapy services if needed; meals; legal services; social work; pastoral care; and social, recreational and educational programming.
Starting Jan. 1, arrangements can be made for the Shalom Center to care for a victim by calling (888) 295-7453.
Cedar Village will provide the seed money to get the center started, she said. In addition, Cedar Village has several grant proposals pending and will raise other funds for the center.
“We want to get things addressed before reaching a critical point,” Elliott said.
Elliott said Cedar Village has been meeting with county officials to discuss the shelter and that a formal announcement will be made Monday morning.
While Warren County has experienced an increase in cases of elderly abuse, it has not had a place to take victims, said Judy Webb of Warren County Elderly Services Program, in a news release.
“This is a true step for Warren County and the surrounding area,” she said.
Elliott said the Shalom Center is being developed with the assistance of the Weinberg Center at the Hebrew House in Riverdale, N.Y. Once it opens on Jan. 1, it will join a handful of shelters located in nursing homes in Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Georgia. The first elder abuse shelter opened six years ago in New York City, Elliott said.
Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4504 or ed.richter@coxohio.com.
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