Elderly Abuse And Abuse

In today’s society, especially Long Term Health Care facilities, there has been numerous reports and incidents of elderly neglect and abuse. Although Personal Support workers walk a very thin line between what could be considered neglect and could be considered abuse, there are no rules pertaining to this grey area, which could potentially be the cause of raising incidents.

"It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of their life, the children; those who are in the twilight of their life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped." (Hubert Humphrey) How will Canada be viewed if we cannot do more to care for the elderly in our society?

It is important to write too our leaders and legislative representatives to ask for support and to lend a hand in confronting a countrywide contagion of elder abuse, which affects our aged and infirm, and to concentrate on fixing the problems regarding responsibility and accountability that allows for the abuse and neglect to occur.

According to many different studies done, about one in four elderly people living in a Long Term Health Care facility are abused, but only a small amount of these cases are reported and an even smaller amount are dealt with (Cooper et al., 2013). But what exactly is considered abuse? All the studies have this one aspect in common; they all agreed the abuse is “a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust which causes harm or distress to an older person.” (Post et al., 2010)

Abuse also falls under many different sub categories such as: mental, emotional, physical an...

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...taff. Workers who feel disempowered are less likely to speak out against others. If they potentially had more power, they may enjoy being a worker more, and believe that with better team effort and more time they could give greater quality care.

Provided that we do not do something soon to stop this expanding issue in Canada then tomorrow when we are old and frail, we will return the takings of our inaction when any of us could turn into a victim of this national disgrace.

Through cooperation, imparting and urging the government to underpin specific administrations for victims of elder abuse and neglect, all should meet our objective of giving elderly persons lives that are free of abuse and segregation and fill it with self-respect, freedom, sharing, equality and security. With these simple steps, Canada can take a step in the right direction to stop elder abuse.