If you are wondering how to report unsafe living conditions of elderly persons that you may know or have seen, there are several options that we will discuss in this article.
Contents
The living conditions for the Elderly living conditions can be unsafe, either physically or emotionally. A home with a bad condition of walkers or wheelchairs can put them at risk as they can get potential injuries.
The elderly can experience abuse in many forms which vary from person to person. We come across many elderly who are impacted negatively because of abuse.
It is an important issue that has to be acknowledged regularly to solve issue effectively. It is crucial to allow people to feel comfortable while they talk about it – be it through a reporting form using a hotline service in the communities. These hotlines give importance to explain that nobody should be abused, unaccepted, abandoned, and neglected.
It is essential to address these safety issues as they may have negative effects, so we have to report and spread such matters. The below article will help in learning about ways to report unsafe situations making use of the best resources available for this. This will help you care for the elderly at home and keep them safe while they age.
Types of Living Conditions That Are Unsafe
- Environment: non-functional conditions in some spaces (bedrooms, entryways, kitchen, bathroom)
- Abuse: Physical or emotional abuse at home by a family member or a partner
A study has shown that there are thirteen issues with an environment that can act as a barrier for independent and safe performance in elderly homes. The significant difficulties are seen in the entryways, kitchen, bedrooms, and bathrooms. These are because of functional and demographic conditions which can put the elderly at risk in their home, thus affecting their daily activities.
Another study that was conducted to describe the similarities of abuse for people who stay at home gave results stating that it is a family affair, as the behavior of the abuser seemed aggressive and unpleasant, which combined with the conflicts in the family.
You may also like Best Elderly Care Companies
How Can We Report Unsafe Living Conditions Of The Elderly
Always reach out to 911 in case you have a life-threatening situation. If not, you can apply using any of the below five ways to report unsafe living conditions of the elderly.
#1 Eldercare Locator
This is nothing but a public service for the Aging of the elderly and families by the U.S. Administration. You can contact them on 1-800-677-1116.
The Eldercare Locator will help people in finding health-related resources for the elderly in U.S. state communities. When they find the resource of unsafe living conditions for the elderly, they will support them and address the issue. This is done by giving necessary information which will help them solve that issue.
This is a free service for the Administration on Aging that will give immediate connection to any resources which will enable them to live independently in the communities and offer support for the caregiver. This is administered under the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging. If you are ok with results being late, then you can always email them at eldercarelocator@n4a.org.
You can watch this video to understand what an Elder Care will offer.
This includes housing assistance to give a safe environment for the elderly and aging resources, disability and abuse prevention.
#2 National Domestic Violence Hotline
The hotline site will help you call 24/7 for reporting physical or emotional abuse in the elderly home. The FVPSA will provide monetary help for the operation of this toll-free call hotline.
The National Domestic Hotline is a link for lifesaving help to the victims. It will provide assistance and information for youth and adults and victims of romantic relationship violence, domestic violence, or family violence, or persons like enforcement agencies, advocates, the general public, and family members.
Elderly persons can also contact 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE) or send an email request from the website. To do this, visit the disclaimer page on the website. There is scope to access 170 languages along with Spanish and English. The language access is through the interpreter services on the telephone.
A National Domestic Violence Hotline will provide resources for identifying what a healthy and abusive relationship should be.
The services in the hotline provide include:
- Domestic violence education.
- Crisis intervention.
- Service providers. Connecting the callers to Service providers such as local shelters.
- Safety planning.
- Referrals to agencies that provide economic and legal and self-sufficiency, childhood abuse, elder abuse, and sexual assault.
You call in directly and state your situation, and then the Hotline worker gives out some valuable facts that will help you get out of an unsafe situation. This is a real experience by one anonymous abuse survivor who has quoted this on their website.
#3 Local Ombudsman
Contact the local ombudsman for reporting any unsafe living conditions in long-term care facilities. The complaint can be given by anyone. However, if you don’t want to make it by yourself, you can always ask someone else to do it on your part.
If you want another person to launch a complaint, then he should not be your legal representative or legal guardian; you will have to legally give consent to the person for communicating with the office of the Ombudsman.
You can get the contact information of the local ombudsman in your state by visiting this page.
The Ombudsman accepts anonymous or ‘whistleblower’ complaints. However, they will not typically investigate unless the complaint raises a serious issue. Furthermore, if there is enough information in the complaint to enable the team to serve an investigation.
You may also like How To File A Complaint Against A Home Healthcare Agency
The objective of this APSW program is to support adults with developmental disabilities. Importantly, to those who live on their own to live life securely, independently, and safely in their community. APSWs will contact an adult who has a developmental disability directly; to help them maintain and access supports and services that include generic services. It will allow them to use effective ways to manage their community life which may have some problems.
This program’s mission is working directly with the elderly having developmental disabilities to develop a respectful and trusting relationship with their team. This will help in understanding the long-term or short-term goals, areas of improvement, and strengths. This interaction will influence self-determination and active participation in the adults working towards their goals or have a developmental disability in their setting.
In this study, neglect, exploitation, and abuse were noticed by abuse type using APS, interventions, and after APS interventions.
There are changes in scores from 1,472 older adults and 591 younger adults served by APS in six months have shown in post-test minus pretest a decrease of harm.
Though, older adult’s abuse harm was way more when compared with the younger adults. And young adults have scored higher in harm.
Below is a video stating what adult services do to report and answer client questions on how long they stay in the case.
#5 National Center on Elder Abuse
The National Center on Elderly Abuse (NCE) will provide the latest information on resources, news, effective practices, training, research practices on exploitation, neglect, elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation to the community and professionals.
NCEA was originated by the administration of the U.S. on aging like a center for national elder abuse. It has a permanent home in AoA which was given after making amendments to the Older American Act.
It is also one of the administrations out of twenty-seven ones available. It focuses on Resource centers that are Aging-funded.
Based on research, two million older adults are going through torture in the U.S.
Administration on Aging says that as individuals, society, and government, one should increase the efforts in order to treat every adult in an honorable manner.
You can send an email to ncea-info@aoa.hhs.gov. or call on 1-855-500-3537.
The NCEAs abuse mission will send the abuse information of the elderly to society and the experts. It gives technical support and also schooling to community organizations and states.
NCEA:
- Will give resources in an easily usable format that can be accessed online
- It also provides information on successful investigations and practices
You may also like Guardianship vs Power of Attorney for Elderly
If You Know an Elderly Person Living In Unsafe Conditions – Report, Report, Report!
It is crucial to report if the elderly are living in unsafe living conditions. The elderly may face worse health outcomes when they live in such situations, which may become fatal. Based on the National Center on Elder Abuse, the death rate of seniors who are not abused is three times more than those of abuse victims.
You can call on the service numbers based on the situation and time, and this will help in keeping the elderly safe emotionally and physically.
We would love to hear your reviews through comments about any experience you had when you have contacted these services or if you enjoyed reading our article. If any of your friends are searching for reports about the unsafe living conditions of the elderly, you can share this article.