Efforts intensify in Michigan to protect elderly, vulnerable adults

Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith

Elder and vulnerable adult abuse in recent years was like child abuse in the 1960s, says Macomb County elder advocate Marty Prehn.
 

It wasn’t talked about. It was kept in the family.

  

But that is changing, as elder advocates in Michigan have instituted a slew of laws and initiated programs to create awareness and protect elderly and vulnerable adults, over the past year.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Rhonda Powell, former director of the Macomb County Senior Citizen Services Department and now deputy director of the state Office of Services on Aging. “There hasn’t been this big of a movement to protect elders in a long time. Unfortunately we’ve arrived at a point in time where these safeguards are needed.”

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Efforts intensify in Michigan to protect elderly, vulnerable adults