by Michael Patton
In 2015 the South Dakota Elder Abuse Task Force issued a series of recommendations to combat elder fraud and abuse, such as making financial exploitation of seniors a felony and clarifying mandatory reporting requirements. Many of these recommendations were implemented, but the problem remains.
According to the Department of Health website, complaints at nursing homes have increased 117% from 2021, with 39 complaints filed compared to the previous year’s 18.
Beyond just nursing homes, a study by Wallethub ranked South Dakota 5th worst in the nation for the prevalence of elder abuse, factoring in the number of abuse and neglect complaints as well as the rate and severity of elder fraud.
Taking advantage
The 2015 Task Force report found that over 5 million seniors fall victim to financial exploitation each year nationally, with only 1 in 25 of those instances being reported.
South Dakotans are particularly vulnerable to this form of abuse. The WalletHub study estimated that 12.11% of elders in South Dakota have been the victims of fraud, the 17th highest rate in the nation. The average amount lost per fraud was $12,785.
“By nature, South Dakotans are hardy, trusting folks. Unfortunately, that trust can be taken advantage of, and there are many tools that are used by scammers and fraudsters to take advantage of that trust, particularly among seniors,” said AARP South Dakota Associate State Director for Advocacy Erik Nelson. “We’re a midwestern state with a high percentage of seniors, trusting seniors, which we appreciate, but unfortunately it means the bad guys target our population for fraud and scams.”
And whether it’s calls pretending to be from law enforcement demanding money for made-up fines, emails claiming that the recipient won a sweepstake they never entered, or fake fundraisers exploiting the generosity of victims’ donations, scammers have no shortage of ingenuity.
Beyond just scams, there are a number of ways people try to take advantage of senior citizens.
“Elder abuse can take on a few different forms whether it’s physical abuse, emotional abuse, or financial abuse,” Nelson said. “It’s not just one thing.”
And in many cases, it isn’t anonymous scammers taking harming the elderly. It’s their own caretakers.
A strained system
Many nursing homes are unable to recruit and retain the staff they need to care for those under their supervision. According to Cole Uechre, Executive Director of Disability Rights South Dakota, this lack of manpower can cause harm to nursing home residents.
“I can say the system is strained to the breaking point,” Uechre said. “I’m sure you know staffing is a major problem in our facilities. Any time that you have people that provide support to individuals and they’re spread thin, and they’re overworked, they’ll get to a point where they’re careless, agitated or worn out, then things like abuse can occur,”
The problems were only exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevented family and friends from being able to visit their loved ones living in nursing homes out of concern for the residents’ safety.
“Any time you have a situation where there’s not great communication or visitation and things like that, that creates an environment where abuse can occur,” Uechre said.
This abuse can be intentional and malicious, such as nursing home workers stealing medications or hitting patients, but it can just as often be a case of well-workers lacking the resources to provide proper care.
“It could be a lack of resources available to provide adequate meals or medications at the right time. It could be that there aren’t enough staff to provide supervision for people that maybe have a tendency to get up and fall, and so without the resources, staffing, they may resort to inappropriate restraint to keep them in place and avoid physical injury.” Uechre said. “Well now you’ve just put them into a restraint situation because of a lack of available staff resources, and that type of thing would be an abusive situation.”
Combatting abuse
Elder abuse is a multifaceted issue, and solving it requires solutions that come at the problem from many different angles. One of these angles is reducing the strain on nursing homes by making it so people don’t need to enter them in the first place.
“Community supports weren’t always being provided. Nursing homes were being overutilized. Since then, there have been measures that have been put into place that have been, I think, effective in many ways, but that process should continue to work toward providing people the opportunity to live in the community as long as possible,” Uechre said.
One of these measures is the HOPE waiver system, which provides low-cost access to a variety of assisted-living services to help seniors who aren’t capable of living completely independently access assisted-living resources at a reduced cost. Programs like these help keep seniors in the community when they may otherwise be forced to move into a nursing home.
At the same time, a combination of education and prosecution is making progress in fighting financial fraud.
“All those mass targeted scams are targeted usually towards seniors, and we work to alert our members in cooperation with state officials and state agencies to know what frauds are out there,” AARP South Dakota’s Nelson said, “We also hold seminars to let them know what to look for, and it’s an ongoing process of education.”
Meanwhile, the South Dakota Attorney General’s office has been instrumental in working to crack down on the financial exploitation of seniors from the legal side, according to Nelson. Increased prosecution efforts and stricter penalties were one of the most significant measures to come from the 2015 workgroup proposal.
“Unfortunately it’s not a matter of time.” said AARP South Dakota Associate State Director for Advocacy Erik Nelson “When it comes to frauds and scams, it feels like the bad guys are always one step ahead when it comes to finding new ways to try and force scams upon our senior population. It’s an ongoing fight.”
What to do
If you or someone you know is being abused, there are many resources available in South Dakota to help.
- In the case of any criminal abuse, including physical abuse, sexual abuse, or neglect, contact your local law enforcement office, or call 911
- In the case of abuse of care at a long-term-care facility (such as a nursing home) contact the State Ombudsman Office at 866-854-5465.
- In the case of Medicaid fraud, file a complaint with the South Dakota Attorney General.
- In the case of financial fraud, call the national elder fraud hotline at 833–372–8311
- In the case that you suspect someone you know is being abused, report it to South Dakota Adult Protective Services.
Full Article & Source:
“An ongoing fight”: Elder abuse in South Dakota remains widespread despite years of effort
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