Long-Term Care and Finances: Financial Elder Abuse
by Family Councils Ontario
This month’s theme is ‘Long-Term Care and Finances.’ This is often a top-of-mind issue for Family Councils as they seek to understand more about different financial aspects related to Long-Term Care, including how Homes are funded, how much caregiving actually costs, how Councils fundraise, and what financial abuse looks like. This month we’ll be covering all of these topics in our blog, via a webinar, and on Facebook.
We’re going to start this week with discussing financial abuse. Financial abuse is defined as: “as any improper conduct, done with or without the informed consent of the older adult, which results in a monetary or personal gain for the abuser and/or a monetary or personal loss for the older adult. The misuse of another individual’s funds or property through fraud, trickery or force is financial abuse.” (Source: Elder Abuse Modules, http://www.esdc.gc.ca/eng/seniors/funding/pancanadian/elder_abuse.shtml).
Older adults both in the community and living in LTC are at risk of financial abuse. In fact, financial abuse is the most common form of elder abuse, according to Elder Abuse Ontario (Source: http://www.elderabuseontario.com/what-is-elder-abuse/forms-of-abuse/). The Long-Term Care Task Force (http://longtermcaretaskforce.ca/) developed an action plan that examined and addressed the factors contributing to incidents of abuse or neglect in long-term care homes with the goal of helping to prevent these incidents, including incidents of financial abuse. Read the Action Plan and Progress reports to learn more about the actions taken to prevent elder abuse in LTC.
What can Family Councils do to raise awareness and knowledge of financial elder abuse and help to prevent it? The key is education! Discuss the signs and risk factors of financial abuse at a Council meeting. Have a guest speaker attend a meeting to speak on the topic of elder abuse (we suggest contacting Elder Abuse Ontario to inquire about booking a speaker). Learn what the Home must do regarding reporting abuse. Check out our videos on Licensee Reporting of Abuse and Neglect. Work with your Home’s Residents Council on a joint event or activity to raise awareness.
To read more about how to prevent elder abuse, visit Elder Abuse Ontario’s website: http://www.elderabuseontario.com
What has your Council done to raise awareness and knowledge of financial abuse? Visit us on Facebook to share your stories!