 |
| Kathy Bennett |
No older adult should ever be subjected to injury, violence, neglect, abuse, exploitation or abandonment at the hands of another, says Robert Torres, Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Aging.
He is right.
Since 1987, the Older Adults Protective Services Act has served as Pennsylvania’s system for protecting the health, safety and welfare of older adults who are at imminent risk.
Everyone agrees we should do more to protect those who are most vulnerable, but after a decade of calls to update and strengthen the Older Adults Protective Services Act, the PA General Assembly has not acted.
We need legislation now to address shortages in our direct care workforce and inadequacies in the facilities that serve older adults. We also need to address the rise of financial exploitation as a form of elder abuse.
Specifically, we need to amend the law to identify individuals who should not be allowed to work as caregivers to older adults. The current rules were deemed unconstitutional in 2015 by the Commonwealth Court.
Because caregivers provide services to older adults in vulnerable situations, such as dressing and bathing, and have access to important and valuable personal information, we need to strengthen background checks for all employees who work with older adults in a longterm care setting.
We also need to expand the list of mandatory reporters of abuse as well as the facilities whose employees are required to report abuse. The list needs to include people who work in care facilities that did not exist in 1987 when the law was first enacted — such as home health, hospice and assisted living.
Elder abuse is growing. Reports of suspected elder abuse increased 63% over the previous five years. There has also been a marked increase in financial exploitation as a form of elder abuse.
Amending the Older Adults Protective Services Act would help to increase awareness of how financial exploitation is committed. It would also encourage financial institutions to voluntarily report suspected financial exploitation. Importantly, it would also grant financial providers and area agencies on aging the ability to share information and records related to exploitation.
Pennsylvania is home to more than 3 million adults over the age of 60. This figure is projected to increase to 4 million in eight years and represent nearly 30% of our state’s population.
Older Pennsylvanians deserve the protection of a law that addresses issues affecting them today. We need action to be taken by the House Aging and Older Adult Services Committee on Rep. Timothy Hennessey’s House Bill 1681 and similar legislation needs to be championed in the Pennsylvania Senate so that these updates can finally be accomplished.
For all the older adults in the commonwealth, let’s get this done.
Kathy Bennett is the director of the Bucks County Area Agency on Aging,
an organizational partner of the Bucks County Women’s Advocacy
Coalition. A licensed social worker with a certification in gerontology,
Bennett has worked as a manager in various senior settings including
hospital geriatric assessment teams, home health care, supervisor of
in-home services, and director of an adult daycare program.
No comments:
Post a Comment