From The Silver Standard’s Elder Abuse Reform Now Project: No One Would Believe You Are in Your 70's

On August 23, 1973 Jan-Erik Olsson pulled a loaded submachine gun and fired at the ceiling of a bank in Stockholm, Sweden. After wounding a policeman, Olsson and a partner took four bank employees hostage, herding them into a bank vault.

He then quickly established a first-name relationship with the hostages and, over a period of six days, swung back and forth between threats of physical harm and acts of thoughtfulness, created an atmosphere where the hostages’ fear of and reliance on their captor resulted in a reaction now referred to as Stockholm Syndrome.

The robber’s benevolent acts curried the sympathy of his hostages. “When he treated us well,” said one hostage, “we could think of him as an emergency God.” They began to fear the police more than their captor. One hostage called the Prime Minister and pleaded with him to let the robbers take her with them in the escape car, saying that she fully trusted him and she feared that the police “…will attack and cause us to die.”

Once the robbers were captured, the hostages embraced, kissed, and shook hands with them. One shouted to the handcuffed criminals, “…I will see you again.” Some days later, one asked a psychiatrist, “Is there something wrong with me? Why don’t I hate them?” The psychiatrists explained that their experience was similar to that of a shell-shocked POW—the hostages had become so emotionally indebted to their abductors that they began to see the abductors, rather than the rescuers, as their saviors.

Just think, four people—all young, healthy, and in complete control of their faculties—and every one of them was totally brainwashed over a period of just six days…six days.

A great deal of financial elder abuse comes through deception and undue influence very similar to this sort of brainwashing,. It most often takes place in locations where there are no witnesses o step in. Usually, it starts out clothed in a velvet glove, but it ends all too frequently in tragedy—and even violence and death. It comes from family, bankers, lawyers, financial advisors, helpful neighbors, tradesmen, housekeepers, caregivers, and total strangers.

Most of us know a woman in her 70s or early 80s—a mother whose husband of many years, the person who dealt with home repairmen and almost all financial decisions, is now gone. One who has begun to find more and more of her friends names showing up on the obituary page, and others who can no longer drive. One whose children live hectic lives with children, grandchildren, and jobs. And the winter weather keeps her at home and alone too much.

A couple of friends may be trying to get her to follow their move to sunny Florida. She is in excellent health, she has all her wits about her, and her kids have been worried about the direction her life has been taking, so everyone decides Florida is just the answer

Things look good—she found a nice house to buy, the kids talk to her every few days and are delighted to hear she has landed next to a lovely couple who drop in every few days to make sure she is OK and offer to do her shopping at the same time they do theirs.

The neighbor husband says she does not need to hire someone to mow her tiny lawn—he is happy to do it when he mows his own lawn.

When she is not feeling well, the wife recommends a doctor, takes her there, and then brings her soup for the next few days.

Soon, she is frequently receiving gifts of homemade meals and flowers from their garden.

Her roof springs a leak and he offers to deal with the roofing man for her and, when she writes the check for the work, he mentions that he has a nephew who is very good at helping seniors increase their income.

The nephew is a lovely young man. But, she thinks she will just keep this to herself and not tell her children. “They always think I’m helpless… wait until they see how much money I make,” she thinks.

The neighbors take her to a social club, and for the first time in a long time she is with a group of people laughing and dancing and enjoying themselves. A very nice man asks her to dance. He’s a little younger than she but later he calls and asks her out to dinner. He brings her gifts—he’s a bit flirty—it feels so good—she’s alive again.

The seduction has begun.

Or perhaps it’s a widower in his 60s. He married his high school sweetheart. Though life gave them some bumps in the road from time to time, they were a team, they always got through it together. Now he has sold his business for a very healthy sum, or retired with a good pension, and they are going to do all the things they could not do while busy raising children and building his business. Then, disease killed all those dreams. Now, he is alone without the one who always had his back and who had always been there to bring sunshine into a grey day.

At first, friends made sure to keep him busy, but months go buy and that dwindles off. He has lunch with his retired friends, and plays golf as often as weather allows. He has taken to going to movies in the afternoon—not much fun alone.

He can never find anything he is looking for; he keeps forgetting to renew his prescriptions, he ran out of clean shirts and can’t find the name of the laundry. Some nights he eats at a restaurant alone, others he stops by the Chinese take-out or that pizza place they had both liked, or he gets one of those delicious roast beef sandwiches they always ordered from their favorite deli.

When he gets home, the lights are off—it’s so quiet. She always had music playing. He opens his sandwich, gets himself a drink, and settles into his cozy chair. The sandwich doesn’t taste as good as it used to. He turns on the news, but there is no one to discuss it with, and it’s all the same old same old anyway so he turns it off. He settles in with a book—it’s so quiet.

After a few months, he hires someone to take care of the housework. Her resume is impressive. She is working to support her unwell mother while trying to save enough to go to go back to college—It’s also nice to have someone around who is always interested in what he has to say.

She makes things he likes to eat and brings them to him as a surprise. Soon she is cooking dinner for him. She seems to always know just where everything is. He has clean shirts, his meds are always at the bedside, dinner is hot and delicious—almost as good as his wife’s. She is young yet she finds his conversation fascinating. She tells him he is much more interesting than men her age. She tells him, to look at him, no one would believe he was in his 60s.

Now, the lights are on when he gets home—it’s no longer quiet, and there is someone there who finds him attractive and interesting.

The seduction has begun. It may take more than six weeks, but it won’t take long.

Margaret Singer, Ph.D. (1922–2003) was a clinical psychologist and adjunct professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and a nationally renowned expert on cults and brainwashing. In the 1990s doctor Singer, by that time a senior citizen herself, turned her attention to the problem of undue influence in elder abuse, saying, “People who are clearly competent from a legal and psychological standpoint are making decisions that just don't make sense to us. Undue influence seems to offer an explanation… People use their roles to exploit the trust, dependency, and fear of others…They use this power to deceptively gain control over decision making.” 

I am a good example of a tough old bird who wants to help the
other old birds see to it that their roofs and swings and cages
don't get stolen. ~Margaret Singer

Obtaining frequent access to a senior citizen provides an abuser with an opportunity to censor mail and, using all manner of excuses and explanations, reduce outside contact and visits, especially from family and close friends. With comments from the abuser, the senior begins to feel they have been brushed aside by loved ones and makes it easy for the abuser to convince the senior that they are the only one who really care about them. According to Doctor Singer, they frequently start to infantilize the senior, or over medicate them, and soon the older person feels totally dependent on the abuser. She says they create a “siege mentality” similar to the brainwashing of captives and hostages. They terrorize seniors into believing that only they can protect them from being removed from their home and placed in an institution or from having all their possessions and means of support taken from them. Some use what are commonly called “gaslighting” techniques, making them question their own memory, perception, or judgment, and weakening their self-esteem. They also frequently use reduction of food as a weapon. Both fear and nutritional deprivation will incapacitate even the most intelligent person, let alone an elderly person who is beginning to experience a feeling of helplessness, abandonment by those they love, and distrusting their own memory. Or, worse yet, they have been convinced their loved ones are plotting against them, which often results in the victim identifying with the abuser and rejecting those who love them and are trying to save them.

In the documentary The Unforgivable Truth, produced by The Silver Standard, you can hear a very distressed mother screaming at her daughter to go away because “Don says you can’t be here”—even though Don has her living in a dirty house, sleeping in filthy sheets, without regular healthy home-cooked meals, cut off from the daughters with whom she has always been very close, and clearly terrorized. All of this is the absolute opposite situation from that which she enjoyed under the protection of her loving daughters. Yet, she is rejecting the daughters. In the end she died alone in that dirty bed.

Dr. Singer stresses the importance of remaining actively involved in the life of loved ones who are elderly. Do all you can to keep them in a position where the possibility of their falling victim to brainwashing or undue influence is greatly diminished.

Make sure they have plenty of mental stimulation.

Visit as often as you can.

Call frequently—it does not have to be a long conversation, just check in a couple of times a day to let them know you love them.

Arrange visits from friends or individuals from their religious organizations.

Make sure they eat three nutritious meals a daily …stock their freezer.

Make sure that any dentures fit properly so eating is not a problem.

Make sure a log is kept of medication intake.

Make sure their eyes are examined regularly.

Make sure they have the proper lenses in their glasses.

Make sure their hearing is checked regularly and hearing aids provided if necessary.

Make sure they have books on tape if reading is not possible.

Make sure they have both a radio and a TV.

If possible, arrange to have them taken to a senior center, church group, or social organization once or twice a week.

If possible, make arrangements for them to participate in bridge, or other game, book, or Bible study groups.

If they are fragile, have the mail sent to your office or a lawyer’s office, and do it before they get to a point of being vulnerable to anyone who might have inappropriate motives.

If a home health care worker, or anyone else, tells you they are too ill for you to visit, drop in anyway—take some bright flowers—you don’t have to stay long

It is best to do everything possible to prevent the situation from happening in the first place. However, sometimes a close relative or friend can step in and save the senior. But that is only if the abuser is not also a guardian—which is all too often the case.

When you have a loved one who is clearly in decline, gather family and discuss guardianship by family members before a stranger, family services, or the court system gets involved.

One by one each of us can try to protect those we love, but the instances of elder abuse in this country, especially financial elder abuse, are growing at an alarming rate. A shocking number of American seniors, who should be enjoying their golden years, are suffering and dying from the tragic circumstances of elder abuse.

In the end, no matter how hard individuals try to prevent it or stop it once it has begun, elder abuse will only become a sin of the past when every state makes the penalties for abusing a senior so harsh that it's not worth taking the chance.

Note: Much of the information on Dr. Singer was taken from a 1996 interview by NCPEA

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No One Would Believe You Are in Your 70's

From The Silver Standard’s Elder Abuse Reform Now Project: In 2020 America Animals Receive More Humane Care Than Our Senior Citizens

By Mary West

Studies show that the care of America’s elderly and infirmed not only fails to meet federal nursing home regulations but federal laws governing the treatment of animals 

Just how badly are some nursing home residents treated? Do they receive better care than animals in a zoo or dogs in a kennel? A recent report issued by the Long Term Care Community Coalition (LTCCC) compared animal care standards to the experiences of individuals in long-term care facilities. The authors concluded that care of the elderly and infirmed often not only fails to meet federal nursing home regulations—it also falls short of requirements for humane animal treatment.

A 2014 study by the OIG found that one third of Medicare 

beneficiaries who enter a nursing home are harmed 

within approximately two weeks. 

 

The LTCCC report was based on research that evaluated several categories such as abuse, nutrition, and medical supervision. Guidelines for animal care mandated by federal law and oversight agencies served as standards on which to base the comparisons of nursing home experiences. Each category assessed revealed cause for alarm. It’s frightening to think that a precious parent, grandparent, aunt, or uncle may not receive even the basic treatment due a pet.

Abuse and Neglect

According to the Standards for New World Primates, physical abuse and punishment-based training should never be used in handling non-human primates. While federal standards prohibit the abuse of nursing home residents, state and federal oversight agencies are lax in enforcing them.

Mistreatment and neglect top the list of concerns relating to long-term care because they cause suffering that takes many forms. The harmful effects can be so severe that they culminate in death.

Statistics like a 2019 report issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) underscore how abuse has serious outcomes. It estimated that one in five Medicare claims from nursing home residents visiting the emergency room stemmed from mistreatment.

Furthermore, once someone is admitted to a long-term care facility, the abuse frequently starts quickly. A 2014 study by the OIG found that one third of Medicare beneficiaries who enter a nursing home are harmed within approximately two weeks.

46 percent of older residents in long-term care facilities 

had impending or current dehydration 

 

Nutrition and Hydration

The Animal Welfare Act states that hamsters and guinea pigs should be fed daily and that the chow needs to be palatable, free of contamination, and sufficiently nutritious to meet the animals’ needs. Federal standards for nursing home residents stipulate that meals be appetizing, healthy, and appropriate in size.

Sadly, individuals in long-term care facilities aren’t always treated as well as rodents. It’s not unusual for them to receive insufficient food and water, the fundamental necessities for life.

A 2004 study published in the Journal of Gerontology discovered that 64 to 80 percent of nursing home residents consumed less fluid and food than amounts recommended in federal guidelines. In a 2020 article featured in Age Ageing, the authors estimated that 46 percent of older residents in long-term care facilities had impending or current dehydration.

Dehydration is a condition that can be life threatening if not caught in time. In a 2019 hearing held by the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, legislators heard the account of an Alzheimer’s resident in an Iowa facility who was denied water for several days. The person died after developing dehydration.

Food and water safety is also an issue. A 2019 report in Fair Warning detailed often-unreported problems in nursing homes such as moldy ice machines and food-borne disease outbreaks.

Freedom from Restraints

Guidelines from the 2016 American Association of Zoo Veterinarians note that physically restraining animals without sedation should be reserved for use only during medical procedures. Federal requirements mandate that nursing homes shouldn’t use physical or chemical restraints on residents for purposes of convenience or discipline.

All of us have felt sympathy for a dog that is chained much of the time and not allowed to run loose within a fenced-in enclosure. Individuals in long-term care facilities are sometimes similarly restrained.

Bedrails, one form of physical restraint, represent a source of preventable harm because residents can climb over and around them. A New York Times review reported that from 1995 to 2012, bedrails were implicated in 550 deaths. These restraints are sometimes necessary, but they shouldn’t be used without supervision.

Nursing homes frequently use drugs to sedate residents for the convenience of caregivers. A 2018 Human Rights Watch report said that in an average week, they administer antipsychotic medications to 179,000 individuals who haven’t been diagnosed with the disorders. The drugs promote docility, but their sedating actions have significant side effects. Use of medications as chemical restraints is unacceptable.

Skin Care

In 2020, standards listed by the Associations of Zoos & Aquariums advise staff to inspect the skin of elephants daily and treat problem areas. Federal nursing home standards specify that residents receive skin care to prevent and treat pressure sores.

Because of mobility limitations, individuals in long-term care are in constant danger of pressure sores, but they aren’t afforded the skin care recommended for elephants. LTCCC reported that more than 93,000 nursing home residents have these maladies. Pressure sores can become infected and take months to heal; if untreated, they result in complications, some of which lead to death.

Medical Supervision

Under the Animal Welfare Act, attending veterinarians should examine each marine animal in their care once a month, which must include an interview with a staff member familiar with the creature. Federal rules for nursing homes call for a doctor to examine every resident once a month for the first three months after admission and once every two months thereafter.

Adequate medical supervision can prevent or reduce many perils of living in a long-term care facility. If problems are caught early, they can often be remedied; but when staff is short, many issues go undetected. Data from Medicare.gov showed that in 2018, oversight agencies issued 3,876 citations for insufficient numbers of nurses and doctors in nursing homes.

The LTCCC report cited several cases of disorders that occurred due to a lack of doctor and nursing care. One involved the failure to monitor an individual getting intravenous therapy, which resulted in electrolyte imbalances and a decline in neurological functions. In another case, the lack of staff compliance to provide doctor-ordered range of motion exercises and splints to a resident’s impaired joints led to the worsening of contractures. Surveyors noted both violations as “no harm.”

Most people have heard of the mistreatment that some nursing home residents endure, but it’s sobering to know the extent and scope of the problem. The reality that individuals often don’t get the quality of care experts advocate for animals is a terrible indictment of America’s health care system. Although we treasure our pets, the value of human life is so much greater. Our country’s seniors, who have given decades of love and service to their families and communities, deserve that the same care be reciprocated to them when they are frail and infirmed.

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In 2020 America Animals Receive More Humane Care Than Our Senior Citizens

From the Elder Abuse Reform Now Project (The EARN Project): Horse Ranch Is Beacon of Light for Veterans with PTSD in Georgia

by Mary West

The horrors of war take a tremendous toll on the mental health of those who serve in the armed forces. When veterans return home from their tour of duty, they’re often haunted by memories of fighting for the life of a soldier or watching a wounded friend bleeding to death.. The untold anguish suffered in combat inevitably leads to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Many of our readers have children who, after bravely traveling far from home to protect our country and way of life, find that, when they return, their need for our help in dealing with the scars of war are greeted with indifference and slow moving bureaucratic red tape. Tragically, sometimes the condition culminates in suicides.

After serving 29 years in the army, including three combat tours in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Sam Rhodes of Fortson, Georgia, was diagnosed with PTSD, reports CNN Health. He was contemplating taking his life, when he received help from an unexpected source ⁠— his stepdaughter’s horse. Cleaning stables and putting up fences calmed his anxieties and made him feel like he had a purpose in life.

The military comes out
in support of Sam Rhodes' project

Consequently, Rhodes wanted to share his source of help with other veterans struggling with PTSD. His aspiration was on the way to becoming a reality when he started building a horse ranch and launched a non-profit called Warrior Outreach in 2008. It provides free access to horses for veterans and their families.

Horses are known for their therapeutic benefits, they have been used to help people with autism and spinal cord injuries, as well as those with depression and PTSD. On Mr. Rhodes’ ranch the wounds of war are soothed through the nonjudgmental empathy and understanding emanating from the animals they are grooming and riding. In addition, the solitude and peace of the ranch trails are undoubtedly a balm for troubled spirits.

Has the horse ranch completely cured Sam Rhodes of PTSD? No, he still struggles with depression, but the horses have made a decided difference for him, his will to live, and interest in life—he has even begun to compose music https://www.facebook.com/100007598259380/posts/2355902714672981?sfns=mo.

Now, Warrior Outreach is more than a horse ranch: It’s expanded into a network where veterans help each other in multiple ways. Fueled by donations and manned by volunteers, the organization does home repairs for veterans in the community. In September they even helped children with disabilities, holding a Camp Dream event. https://youtu.be/py0AtMou7oQ

All of this is offered free of charge to anyone who needs it. The volunteers even give their phone number to those having a hard time, and invite them to call when they need something.
Most importantly, the program is literally saving lives. "Vets come out here and say, 'Hey, you saved my life.' It's well worth it," Rhodes told CNN.

"Vets come out here and say,
'Hey, you saved my life.'"

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, veterans, especially those who are homeless, have a higher risk of suicide than that of the civilian population. Each year, approximately 26 out of every 100,000 Americans die from suicide compared to 35 out of every 100,000 veterans. Among homeless veterans, the rate is 81 out of every 100,000.

Warrior Outreach is a beacon of light for veterans in this corner of Georgia but not all of us can build a horse ranch. However, we can emulate the love and caring Mr. Rhodes has shown our veterans. Talk to local farm and stable owners, see if they would run something similar if you get volunteers to help. If not horses, look into some of the other programs that are being run across the country that might be something you could organize. So much more is needed, and our Veteran have certainly earned the right to find compassion and help when they return home.

"Vets come out here and say, 'Hey, you saved my life.' It's well worth it," Rhodes told CNN. What in anyone’s life could possibly be more important than saving a life?

warrioroutreach@gmail.com

6350 GA-219, Fortson, GA 31808 (706) 505-0708

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From the Elder Abuse Reform Now Project (The EARN Project): David Really Can Slay Goliath But First He Must Show Up

by Mary West

Marti Oakley, host of T.S. Radio and author of The PPJ Gazette Blog, has devoted herself for many years to educating the public on the dangers and pitfalls of elderly guardianship. This term refers to the legal relationship formed when a court appoints someone to care for a senior who is ill or infirm. In theory, guardianship meets the needs of people who can no longer care for themselves. However, in reality, it is fraught with perils resulting from the callous devaluation of the elderly and the desire of predators to gain control over their assets. Tragically, many seniors experience abuse, neglect, and, in some cases, premature death caused by a guardian.

Guardianships are a lucrative business, and they’ve become one of the fastest-growing cottage industries. Unfortunately, in some cases, an unholy alliance exists between guardians, nursing homes, the lawyers representing nursing homes and guardians, professional organizations, probate judges, and other stakeholders. In other words, there exists a network of corrupt colluders. Consequently, an elderly person is deprived of any fair representation or evaluation in a court where the judge has the power to put a total stranger in charge of their “care.” According to Oakley, “These relationships and networks are clear racketeering.”

Oakley’s Elder Advocacy Journey

Marti Oakley

How did seniors acquire the valiant spokesperson they have in Oakley? Her journey to elder abuse activism began more than 11 years ago. She had always been involved with various issues affecting public health such as pollution, GMOs, and fluoridated water. After doing numerous radio interviews, a friend in New York City told her that she should seriously consider doing a show that would bring these topics, which often flourish in shadow, into the light of day. She initially resisted the idea, but later, realizing how ill-informed the American people were on these matters, she understood that such a show would create the informed public necessary to create a demand for changes in laws to reduce the number of abused citizens.

Oakley traces her interest in elderly guardianship to an interview with Sara Harvey, a woman whose husband, Gary, had a nightmarish experience. Two years after experiencing a traumatic brain injury, Gary’s guardian asked the court to remove his feeding tube and starve him to death. Sara struggled to get Gary proper care, but the guardian had been given all the power, and he passed away.

Oakley researched guardianships and found that Gary Harvey’s story wasn’t an aberration: instead, it was a relatively common occurrence happening to seniors across the country. The problem haunted her. “I was appalled at what was being done to people whose only crime was aging with assets,” and she took up the cause.

Sara directed Oakley to the National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse (NASGA), and the dam was open—vast numbers of people came out of the woodwork to tell their horror stories on her show. These accounts have a common thread—the victims became prey to predators masquerading as guardians, who rob them of everything, including their dignity.

Aside from giving family members of victims a voice on her show, Oakley has interviewed doctors, lawyers, and whistleblowers to examine factors that have a bearing on this national plague. Her life is now dedicated to making phone calls, writing articles, and speaking with lawmakers.

Cash Incentivization of Federal Programs

In discussing various aspects of the guardianship problem, Oakley reports that federal programs can be cash incentivized, and hospice care, which can be a Godsend to many suffering the excruciating pain of late-stage cancer and other diseases, can also offer an opportunity to an abuser, becoming “nothing but a killing machine…. to amass funds, corrupt doctors misdiagnose patients as terminal to enter them into the hospice program. Since food and water have been redefined as medical treatment, patients are denied these essential elements for life. After three days without them, their organs start to shut down,” she explains.

In addition, some hospices and nursing homes withhold medications that could extend life. To illustrate, under “comfort care only” directives, antibiotics, normally given to treat an infection, may not be prescribed even to a patient who, if given these curative drugs, might live a perfectly good life for many months or years to come. “Comfort care only” is a convenient an often-used tool by guardians and family members who have a financial interest hastening the patient’s death. This is evident in the audio and video recordings of Mercedes Kibbee in the Silver Standard documentary “The Unforgivable Truth”.

Oakley notes that the federal government owes Social Security about $4 trillion, which has been taken from surplus funds to support other causes. “They have no way to pay it back, so they reduce the amount of income that claimants get, as well as try to decrease the number of claimants. Under Obamacare, many hospices morphed from acting as Good Samaritan to assuming the role of Grim Reaper. We estimate hospice is ending the lives of 300,000 to 500,000 people per year,” she adds.

Broadening the Scope of the Problem

Heartbreakingly, the scope of the problem is broadening. Efforts to reduce the population aren’t limited to rushing the deaths of the elderly: the disabled and chronically ill, as in the case of Gary Harvey, are now being targeted as well.

Furthermore, while 10 years ago wealthy seniors were the primary victims, now predators have expanded their targets to include non-wealthy seniors. Social security benefits can provide a hefty income for any guardian who has taken charge of a large volume of seniors and is the designated assigned payee of those payments.

Oakley cites the example of Rebecca Fierle, a professional guardian in Florida who went from being bankrupt to a millionaire within three years after gaining control over the estates of many seniors. Fortunately, Fierle is now under criminal investigation, but in most cases the guardian’s bank account continues to grow as the victim continues to suffer.

Lack of Federal and State Oversight

What can be done? “The federal government absolves itself of any responsibility, claiming that guardianships are under the jurisdiction of the states,” continues Oakley. Due to conflicts of interest affecting state legislators, they fail to assume an oversight role. Why? Nursing home and guardianship associations are among the major contributors to their election campaigns, and to keep money coming in, they’re willing to do whatever it takes to keep their donors happy. Compounding the situation, in recent years, nursing homes, guardianships, and—believe it or not—lawyers are increasingly lobbying lawmakers in a manner that suits their own interests rather than the interests of the elderly.

Consequently, legislators refuse to introduce bills that would stop the abuse, veto those that do come up for vote or, as in Rhode Island, the governor vetoes the Bill just passed (unanimously). Because of the lack of government oversight, it’s not surprising that within Oakley’s 11 years of advocacy, she hasn’t seen any substantial progress.

The Solution

In Oakley’s opinion, the solution to elderly guardianship abuse lies in revamping laws. “The first thing to do is to get rid of probate courts. They are an administrative court based on statues and codes rather than laws. Under this system, people don’t have rights. No evidence is required to back up charges levied, nor is anyone given the opportunity to refute allegations. Due process is not afforded to the persons they’re targeting. It’s the ultimate in identity theft. The person suffers a civil death equal in consequences to a physical death….Conversely, declaring someone incompetent should be handled in state courts. Here, evidence is produced to prove claims, and targets are allowed to speak. I believe that a person’s will and legal directives should stand. Seniors shouldn’t be stripped of their constitutionally endowed protection at any time. We need a guardianship protection bill,” she says.

Opposition and Obstacles

In the course of Oakley’s work, she has encountered indifference from people who don’t care about elderly guardianship abuse because it doesn’t affect them personally. Sometimes the young can’t fathom a time when they will become old and infirmed. Yet aging is a universal experience, and anyone enjoying vibrant health now will someday reach the point where he or she needs care and protection from wrongdoers.

Another obstacle Oakley has met is the failure of people to grasp the magnitude of the problem. Since it has fallen well under the radar of news outlets, the public is largely unaware of it. Most states have passed outreach programs to educate the public, but they are not implemented—most states claim it is because of lack of available funding. This is one reason for the founding of the EARN Project, which provides informative materials, free of charge, to any individual, organization, or government entity willing to conduct a workshop to aid in the education of their local citizens.

In addition, Oakley’s efforts have ignited the ire of predators whose vile deeds she is trying to stop. This has gone so far as to manifesting itself in threats of physical harm and death. Despite the opposition, she is undeterred and perseveres fearlessly “to do something about the human traffickers who are targeting the most vulnerable among us.”

Although Oakley is uninterested in accolades, she has earned the deep gratitude of those whom she is attempting to help. On behalf of people of all ages, The Silver Standard News wishes to express our gratitude to Oakley and others involved in the quest to ensure that Americans enjoy truly golden Golden Years.

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David Really Can Slay Goliath But First He Must Show Up

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From the Elder Abuse Reform Now Project (the EARN Project) William Barr

In June 2019, Attorney General William Barr met with the general counsel of several major banks to discuss what financial institutions can do to slow the growth of financial elder exploitation. He has demonstrated a real interest in working with the financial industry to establish successful programs and protocols that identify and prevent not just national but also international criminals from targeting American seniors.

Senior financial abuse is an ever-growing problem and, after years of disinterest by the federal government, AG Sessions demonstrated a sincere interest in protecting America’s senior citizens. We are very happy to see that our new Attorney General Barr has placed America’s seniors high on his list of priorities, including establishing the Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force. This is made up of prosecutors and data analysts from the Consumer Protection Branch, FBI special agents, and postal inspectors, along with prosecutors from U.S. Attorneys’ Offices in the Central District of California, Middle and Southern Districts of Florida, Northern District of Georgia, Eastern District of New York, and Southern District of Texas and other law enforcement personnel to focus on investigating and prosecuting individuals and entities associated with foreign-based fraud schemes that disproportionately affect American seniors. These include telemarketing, mass-mailing, and tech-support fraud schemes.

“Fraud against the elderly is on the rise,” said Attorney General Barr. “One of the most significant and pernicious causes for this increase is foreign-based fraud schemes. The new Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force will bring together the expertise and resources of our prosecutors, federal and international law enforcement partners, and other government agencies to better target, investigate, and prosecute criminals abroad who prey on our elderly at home. The Department of Justice is committed to ending the victimization of elders across the country.”

In addition, the Strike Force will collaborate with the Federal Trade Commission and industry partners, who have pledged to engage with the DOJ to help obliterate elder fraud. It will also receive help from elder justice coordinators now assigned in every U.S. Attorney’s Office.

With the protective arm of the justice department now stretching out across the country, we hope it will wrap itself around the nursing home industry and do something about their lack of reporting. The Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study showed that cases of abuse of elderly nursing home patients on Medicare are frequently not reported to state inspection agencies, even though nursing homes are required to report allegations of abuse, neglect, and mistreatment "promptly" so they may be tracked and recorded, in accordance with federal requirements.

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William Barr

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The Unforgivable Truth documentary by the EARN Project

WHO IS DOING THEIR JOB.

On the EARN website under “State Info,” There is a drop-down list where you can find all the legal information about Financial Elder Abuse and involuntary Guardianship for your state.

As we researched each state, a question arose—though the public chooses those who will represent their interests and safety and, through one manner of taxation or another, pay the salaries of those representatives as well as Attorney Generals, Judges, and District Attorneys, why is there so little concern shown for the senior citizens in so many states? It is particularly perplexing given the fact that those very senior citizens are, more often than not, paying the largest share of the taxes and casting the largest share of the votes.

Over the next year, we will compare all 50 states, each month we will carry forward the state that was the best in the previous month’s comparisons, to see...  (Click to Continue)

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WHO IS DOING THEIR JOB.

Shining Efforts to Help Homeless Veterans

by Mary West

Silver Standard News seeks to spotlight any segment of the populace experiencing abuse. This month, the focus is on homeless veterans.

Veterans—men and women who have put their lives on the line to defend our country— represent a disproportionate percentage of the homeless population. More than 40,000 veterans are living on the streets, despite a 46 percent decline in recent years, reports Task & Purpose. In addition, more than 1.4 million veterans are at risk of homelessness, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.

The majority of homeless veterans live in urban areas. Nearly half served in the Vietnam War, but some have served in wars ranging from WWII to the most recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Efforts of the Veterans Administration (VA) to help the homeless have emphasized collaborating with community service agencies to provide those in crisis with the help they need. The VA, together with its partnerships, has supplied more than 30,000 permanent beds and nearly 15,000 transitional beds across the nation. Consequently, significant inroads in reducing the number of homeless veterans have been made. Yet more needs to be done.

Veterans’ Unique Needs

Multiple factors underlie homeless veterans’ statistics. Problems that affect the entire homeless population include a shortage of housing, a lack of access to health care, and an unlivable income. Compounding these challenges, many veterans are mentally ill and suffer from substance abuse, and they often have a poor support network of family and friends. Moreover, since military occupations are sometimes nontransferable to civilian life, veterans face challenges in finding employment.

A sizable number of veterans also have lingering effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Those with PTSD are less likely to be willing to stay in a homeless shelter. The prospect of sleeping in an open room surrounded by strangers is too anxiety provoking to be a feasible option.

Multifaceted Solutions for Veterans

Complex issues affecting homeless veterans call for multifaceted solutions. Aside from housing, veterans need nutritious meals, substance abuse care, mental health counseling, and general health care. Job training and placement are also important necessities.

Government programs have helped tremendously, but federal funds are limited, and services aren’t adequate to reach the many veterans who need them. Some experts say that the most effective programs for at-risk individuals are nonprofit, community-based groups where veterans help veterans. Beneficial programs involve transitional housing in a substance-free setting with fellow veterans who are bettering themselves. Furthermore, programs with services that are more comprehensive give veterans a better chance of procuring gainful employment and enjoying the life that most Americans take for granted.

Veterans have given us their best while on the battlefield.
We need to give them our best when they return home.

The Veterans Community Project is a shining example of veterans helping veterans. This wonderful program refuses to let anyone who has served our country fall through the cracks. Founded by combat veterans in Kansas City, Missouri, it provides two critical services.

One service is the Veterans Outreach Center, which is a one-stop shop for veterans facing any problems. The staff assists with navigating the VA, provides financial counseling, offers employment help, and makes physical and mental health referrals. Veterans also receive a food pantry and hygiene kit. Everything is free of charge.

The other part of the Veterans Community Project is a village of tiny homes with onsite services. Its goal is to get veterans off the street and ultimately put them in permanent housing. The village, designed to meet the unique needs of veterans, gives them a stable network of support.

U.S. VETS

Los Angeles County has the largest population of homeless veterans in the country, says BlackPressUSA. A great example of a community program is the nonprofit U. S. VETS in Inglewood, California. Located in a Los Angeles suburb, the organization, which started in 1993 with five clients, has grown to serve more than 10,000 veterans. It provides free housing and a full gambit of services, including health- and employment-related programs. U.S. VETS even has outreach workers who go out on the streets and look for veterans to tell them about the program.

The Veterans Community Project and U.S. VETS are game changers for the homeless. Anyone wishing to help those who have selflessly fought for our freedoms may go to their websites and make a donation.

Silver Standard News will continue to follow this story. Whether elderly veterans are homeless or in a long-term care facility, they should be treated with all the dignity and care that is due to anyone who is infirm and in declining health. To fail to care for homeless veterans, regardless of their age, is abuse: it’s nothing less than criminal and the height of ingratitude.

Veterans have given us their best while on the battlefield. We need to give them our best when they return home.


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Shining Efforts to Help Homeless Veterans

Harmonic Chords Ring Against Abuse and Corruption

The Silver Standard with Romona Paden, contributor

This year’s Whistleblower Summit had many interesting and illumination discussion panels.

For us at the Silver Standard and The EARN Project, the panel conducted by Marti Oakley was of most interest.

Many people are drawn to the Summit just to meet Marti. They have listened to her shows on her TS Radio Network, and they appreciate her for being a leading voice for reform and her achievement in bringing this issue to the Summit. She was her usual dynamic self, shining a light into the dark corners of this growing global threat.

Her discussion concerning the massive expansion of individuals licensed as guardians and the very profitable businesses that have sprung up offering management services for senior citizens and the disabled was truly enlightening. Senior citizens and the disabled have become big business, not only with individuals who look to the profession of guardian as a golden path to consistent easy money but also companies selling worldwide franchises. As with everything in life, there is good and bad in their midst, but the opportunity for exploitation has clearly been too irresistible for many. With no existing laws as a deterrent, even good people can be enticed into doing bad things.

We were especially happy to see Marti address the need for public involvement. She emphasized that, with the existing lack of genuine support from most of those in government, there is an urgent need for public outcry. She shares our adamant insistence that change is going to happen only when American citizens use their voices—and their votes—to insist that their elected officials and lawmakers become strong advocates for their elderly and disabled citizenry. Advocacy groups must write the bills themselves and then get the public behind them to insist on political and judicial support. The public needs to get behind elder protection in the same way they supported Mothers Against Drunk Driving. As with MADD, this public support won’t completely end the abuse—but it certainly will reduce it.

The journalist Gretchen Hammond spoke most eloquently.

Hammond, after investigating guardianship for a June 2018 article, “Guardians From Hell” for The Tablet Magazine was so disturbed by what she discovered that she embarked on a full investigation of the Oakland County, Michigan probate court.

She and a small team examined 2,278 separate guardianship cases filed in that court against people ranging in age from 19–96 by agencies such as Adult Protective Services, the Senior Care Network, social workers, and attorneys. The reasons given in the petitions ranged from “bipolar,” to “diabetes,” to “lacks civilization,” “undefined mental illness,” and “fell down in the parking lot of Costco.”

The research revealed that in 98.9 % of these cases, guardianship was awarded to a either a public administrator or an elder, estate, or probate attorney who, it appeared, had “sufficiently impressed” Michigan’s Attorney General.

According to their research, the team discovered that:

• The majority of hearings lasted less than four minutes in which, irrespective of familial protestation, the victim and everything they owned became the property of the state.
• In 68.9 out of 100 of cases, neither the victim nor their family was given any prior warning; instead the hearing was conducted without their knowledge.
• In 97 out of 100 cases, victims were forced out of their homes by the public administrator within a month.

Sadly, says Hammond, “Their destiny was solely dependent upon their income and attitude.”

• The majority of victims were housed in psych or lockdown wards. Those with only a small Social Security income were shuffled about from one unlicensed group home to another where they were neglected, deprived of food, and all too often subjected to torture and beatings.
• In 100 percent of cases, irrespective of the victim’s income or savings at the time of the hearing, they were left completely indigent and reliant on social services within no more than three years.

Hammond and her team proved that while in Michigan it is written in state statute that adult guardianship is supposed to be a temporary measure, Michigan citizens are at the mercy of a heartless and greedy legal system where judges regularly ignore state law and no one cares.

One victim named Annette wrote to a judge from the unlicensed group home in which she had been imprisoned for over a year, saying “I don’t want to be punished and have my dignity and humanity taken away from me. I am young and would like a job and to be a viable asset in society.”

She was ignored and left imprisoned in that terrible Michigan Gulag—which to any American of conscience is a most unacceptable, unforgivable, un-American situation. Her letter is on file at the Oakland County Probate Court.

At the Silver Standard we find it incomprehensible—these are human beings we are talking about, our American brothers and sisters—and this is not just happening in Michigan.

Hammond has made great personal sacrifices in order to pursue injustice, and we all need to heed her warnings or the next Annette will be you or your loved one.

Lights, Camera, Whistle

For Marcel Reid, the whistleblower gauntlet was a springboard for the development of an Annual Whistleblower Summit, and in 2019 she added a film festival.

Recognizing that cinema ranks high among the most effective means of laying out the intricacies of a scenario and conveying a memorable message, the festival added a very successful element to the event. July’s hot and humid weather, within the swampy confines of the nation’s capital, only served to emphasize these powerful stories of heartbreaking civil and human rights violations in our “land of the free.”

Most of the films were in a documentary format and, according to the festival’s website, “seek to shine a light on courage and perseverance in the face of injustice, and to encourage individuals to stand together to achieve human rights for all…” The event is described as “an intersection between media, politics, culture and entertainment…”

Whistle Where We Stand

Like Marcel, Sharon de Lobo, publisher of The Silver Standard and head of its parent organization the Elder Abuse Reform Now Project (EARN), had never considered getting into either the activist or filmmaking fields. Then life took one of its unexpected turns—a turn that brought the documentary The Unforgivable Truth: How We Have Turned America’s Greatest Generation into America’s Abused Generation to this year’s Whistleblower Summit.

Starting in 2006, de Lobo came face to face with a soul-crushing experience faced every year by millions of Americans—financial elder abuse. Fighting all the way, she watched as $32 million, along with a multimillion-dollar property that her mother had ordered be put into a foundation as a refuge to feed and support severely at-risk children, simply disappeared. This heinous act—not of just financial elder abuse but of affluent “pillars of the community” denying food to children who frequently go to bed hungry—was perpetrated by the very people she had employed to protect her intentions along with the enthusiastic participation of an organization that cloaks itself in the banner of Christ. Next she learned the cold hard facts of how the courts—and their cadre of buddies, contributors, and professionals—ignore existing laws and act against the best interests of elders and their families, while politicians and lawmakers, influenced by powerful lobbyists, give sincere sounding lip service to the matter but, for the most part, do nothing.

In a discussion about why elder abuse and involuntary guardianship has not raised the kind of public outcry that one would expect, de Lobo’s answer was: “Americans have big hearts; we react with compassion to TV commercials showing sick children at St. Jude’s and The Shriners Hospitals, abused animals rescued by the ASPCA, or even foreign citizens painfully in need of our assistance. In contrast, we are never shown the thousands of American seniors who are spending their ‘golden years’ suffering in poverty due to cunning predators, or the bruised faces and the broken bones inflicted under the care of court-appointed guardians. It continues unseen, their cries for help unheard…The pain being inflicted on our senior citizens is pure evil, and a society that sees evil and does not eradicate it is itself evil. Americans are not an evil society. We just need to put the sights and sounds of elder abuse into their sightlines. If they see and hear it, if they are given what they need to fully understand the extent and gravity of it, they will care, and they will insist upon change. If we leave it in the shadows, it will destroy us all, because it will leave no family untouched.”

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Harmonic Chords Ring Against Abuse and Corruption

The Light that Illuminates Whistleblowing

The Silver Standard and Romona Paden, contributor

Marcel Reid, within a few years of entering the world of grassroots activism, shifted from pointing out institutional injustices against low- and middle-income communities to calling foul on the very “social justice”

organization where she had been devoting untold amounts of time and effort.

Discovering theft and fraud at the highest levels the Association of Community for Reform Now (ACORN) transformed Reid from community activist to whistleblower.

 “Whistleblowing is saying something no one wants to hear,” says Reid. “The kind of truth we’re talking about is the kind that can change the world.”

Too many organizations, while presenting a public face of great benevolence, are in truth fostering abuse, corruption, and wrongdoing at the expense of the needy they claim to help. The whistleblower who speaks the truth that shatters that image can expect plenty of blowback. It takes a strong chord of heroism to weather that, and that was certainly evident at last month’s 2019 Whistleblower Summit in Washington, DC.

As Reid describes her experience in exposing institutional corruption, one is reminded that doing the right thing often means facing disdain and contempt from colleagues as well as some form of retaliation. It frequently can result in job loss, false accusations, and maligned reputations—even with existing whistleblower protection laws. “They’re traumatized,” Reid says of whistleblowers facing down corruption.

Whistleblowing itself plays out on multiple levels. Oftentimes, whistleblowing comes down to calling for institutional accountability around illegal, unethical, or otherwise destructive and dishonest activity. It can be a powerful tool in building general societal awareness around norms and behaviors that need to be changed.

Whistleblowing dates back to the country’s very earliest days. In the months following the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a group of 10 sailors petitioned the Continental Congress with a complaint about British prisoners of war being treated in a “most inhuman and barbarous manner.” In response, the Continental Congress suspended the commander from his post.

Those seamen took on the risk of whistleblowing with open eyes. Though not often mentioned in present-day biographies, the commander, Commodore Esek Hopkins, was the brother of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and a former governor of Rhode Island.

As the soldiers must have expected, he retaliated. He filed a criminal libel suit against all the men and arrested and jailed the two service members who were present in the state of Rhode Island.

Again, the whistleblowers spoke up, appealing to the country’s new Congress, in a petition stating that they had been “arrested for doing what they then believed and still believe was nothing but their duty.”

Not long after, on July 30, 1778, the Continental Congress unanimously passed the first whistleblower law.

As Reid plowed through the trials of her modern whistleblowing experience exposing ACORN’s entrenched corruption, she found an ally in Pacifica Radio, a progressive/liberal non-profit organization of five independently operated, non-commercial, listener-supported radio stations. She was ultimately elected to serve as a director on their national board, leading it to become the first national media outlet to incorporate whistleblowing into its platform. Many say that credit for the passage of the 2012 Whistleblower Enhancement Act rests with Pacifica’s steadfast commitment to whistleblower coverage.

Currently, Reid serves as the first national media whistleblower liaison for Pacifica Foundation, a sole position within the media industry. By supporting whistleblower efforts globally, Reid continues her efforts to shed light on corruption worldwide.

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The Light that Illuminates Whistleblowing

You Too Could Become a Victim of an Elder Financial Scam

By Mary West

Financial scams are rampant and have many forms, making it especially hard to avoid them. In a 2012 survey titled Financial Fraud and Fraud Susceptibility in the United States by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, 80 percent of the respondents reported that they had been solicited by a person making a fraudulent offer. Once solicited, older adults were 34 percent more prone to victimization than younger adults in their forties. The losses can be devastating: according to a 2014 study by Allianz Life, on average, victims of elder financial abuse lose $36,000.

Remember the old adage, "If something
sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

Seniors’ heightened vulnerability to fraud is due to an array of causes. Two factors that play a prominent role are the tactics used by scammers along with the inability of older adults to recognize red flags that indicate an offer isn’t legitimate. Since at one time or another you’re likely to encounter one of these schemes, and being familiar with the dirty tricks of the trade can help protect you from losing your money to a fraudster.

Scammers Use Tactics that Incite Strong Emotions

When scammers make their pitches, they say things that generate strong emotions. The older people are, the greater the likelihood that these emotion reactions will lead to their victimization. A study conducted by the Stanford Center on Longevity (SCL) compared the effects of strong emotions in adults between 65 and 85 years old, to those between 30 and 40 years old. The participants underwent tests that elicited strong positive emotions such as excitement, strong negative emotions such as anger, and neutral emotions such as boredom or depression. Each participant was place in a situation intended to provoke, one by one, these three emotions and after each one, presented with fraudulent ads to ascertain their interest.

The results showed that the older adults whose reacting was excitement or anger were more likely to purchase the item promoted in the misleading ads than those experiencing neutral emotions. Conversely, younger adults who felt excitement or anger weren’t more likely to have an interest in the fraudulent offers than those with neutral emotions. Regardless of their feelings, unlike the older participants, the younger adults’ interest depended upon how they perceived the ads’ credibility: the more credible they rated the offers, the more likely they wanted to purchase the products advertised. In a study done by UCLA in 2012, it was discovered that the area of the brain which warns us that something is not quite right, begins to diminish as early as our mid-forties. Additionally, we begin to lose our ability to absorb information, simultaneously analyzing it based on multiple logical criteria (so called “Fluid Intelligence”), and reach a well-considered decision. This makes financial decision-making problematic.

Authors of the SCL study concluded that the elderly are more susceptible to scams that generate emotions like excitement or anger. It was clear that “high-arousal” emotions such as excitement lead to risky decision-making compared to “low-arousal” emotions such as boredom. Strangely, even when older adults suspected that an add was misleading, their frustration or excitement would never-the-less cause them to want to purchase the fraudulent products. Unsurprisingly, an appeal to these feelings is a major persuasion tactic used by scammers who target the elderly.

The authors recommended sharing the findings with older adults so they can recognize the tactics used by scammers. Fraudsters tend to create excitement about an offer by the following means:

• They make promises of inflated financial gains.
• They pressure targets to make a decision quickly.
• They falsely claim that trusted sources are a part of the endeavor.

It’s always best to postpone any decision until the company’s background can be researched to verify its legitimacy.

Be Alert to Red Flags of Guaranteed or Unrealistic Gains

In the survey on fraud susceptibility, a main takeaway was that many Americans are unable to identify red flags associated with scams, especially older Americans and older women make up a larger proportion of those... They aren’t knowledgeable about what constitutes reasonable returns on investments, which makes them prone to believe fraudulent pitches with promises of “guaranteed” or inflated gains. In reality, all investments carry some risk, but mentions of unrealistic returns are a commonly used means of ensnaring the scam prey.

When the survey presented the respondents with two pitches that were full of red flags, a significant percentage of the participants found the fraudulent claims appealing rather than suspicious. Below are some examples of statements that 48 to 59 percent of the respondents rated appealing:

• “It guarantees the safety of the invested amount and even pays a 5% referral commission.”
• “The program pays from 2% to 3.4% daily depending on the investment plan you choose.”
• “We guarantee you will not lose your principle investment with our company.”

Further questions to gauge the participants’ ability to identify red flags showed the following promises were the most appealing:

• “This stock has outperformed the Dow Jones Industrial Average each year for the last 5 years.”
• “The lowest return you could possibly get on this investment is 50% annually, but most investors have made upwards of 110% a year.”

You can see how the excitement generated by such claims might override an elderly person’s normal good judgement and induce him or her to take a risk. Widowed women in their late seventies and older are particularly susceptible because so often it was only their husbands who dealt with the family finances.

Elder Financial Scams are Vastly Underreported

The fraud susceptibility survey cited underreporting as a problem that prevents policy makers from having accurate data reflecting the scope of financial scams among the elderly. It estimated 60 percent of fraud cases are unreported because of various factors such as embarrassment or a belief that it won’t make a difference.

To get a true picture of the incidence of financial scams, the survey respondents were asked about their experiences in two ways. As in past studies, they were asked directly if they had been the victim of a fraud. They were also questioned indirectly by inquiring about their experiences with financial offers that are rife with fraud such as email scams, lottery scams, free lunch seminars, boiler room sales, penny stock sales, and pyramid schemes. This research method that involved both direct and indirect questioning yielded a fuller view of fraud susceptibility. The inescapable finding was that elder financial scams are more pervasive than earlier research indicates.

The bottom line is to avoid talking to strangers on the phone as well as to refrain from responding to unsolicited mail invitations or emails. Moreover, don’t give out personal information to a stranger or allow someone to rush you into a decision. Talk to your elderly parents about scammers. Put a pad and pencil next to their telephone and suggest that they jot down all the details and go over them with you or a trusted friend before making a purchase. Above all, remember the old adage, “If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

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You Too Could Become a Victim of an Elder Financial Scam

We Say We Will Never Forget But Have We Already Forgotten?

As grandparents, we are the last Americans left who have memories of family members who went to war to protect our world and instilled in us the understanding of the importance of a population who honours that which so many before us were willingly to fight and died to safeguard.

During the months and months of arguing over individuals refusing to stand for the National Anthem, not a single journalist or op-ed writer discussed the meaning of its lyrics.

After a night of heavy bombardment, from British ships during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812, 35-year-old Francis Scott Key awoke to see our flag, the symbol of freedom, flying triumphantly over Fort McHenry and was inspired to write the proud and grateful words of “The Star-Spangled Banner”

Over the generations, many millions of people, on other mornings in other cities—across Belgium, Holland, France, the camps of Nazi Germany, and so many other places far from our shores—have awakened to the hope and joy of seeing that flag borne by young soldiers willing to risk their lives to defend the freedom it stands for.

Now those freedoms are in peril. We seem to be more interested in tearing apart this country than protecting it.

Can’t we, as grandparents, help our grandchildren understand that though as a people we are not perfect, and neither is our system, there is great value in what those young people died to protect? That respecting the views of others, listening to what they have to say, and finding compromise is the only way to honor it?

If we cannot come together in agreement that there is something worth defending at the heart of America, then we will fall. And if we fall, the world will fall.

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We Say We Will Never Forget But Have We Already Forgotten?

The Elder Abuse Reform Now Project (EARN) Presents: The Unforgivable Truth: How We Have Turned America's Greatest Generation into America's Abused Generation

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David Really Can Slay Goliath But First He Must Show Up

Marcel Reid Definitely Showed Up

It has been more than 10 years since Marcel Reid attended a Whistleblower Conference conducted by the Government Accountability Project. She understood the important place the whistleblower plays in maintaining the safety and well-being of the American public and, though she never expected to become a whistleblower herself, the need for laws that will protect whistleblowers from retribution.

Sometime later, and most unexpectedly, Marcel herself become a whistleblower. This inspired her to take all that she had learned at the GAP meeting and, over the years following, to create her own organization. In 2012 they conducted their first summit with a very small audience, just a few whistleblowers, and the support of only three organizations. 

This July, their four-day summit will have 70 organizations supporting them and close to 1000 participants.

Since they began in 2012, more and more states are instituting laws to protect whistleblowers and the safety of the American public is in much better shape because of these heroic individuals. Marcel’s organization has done wonderful things in just seven years and we will watch with great enthusiasm their continued activities.

We encourage anyone who would be in or near Washington DC between July 29th and August 1st to attend. You will be glad you did!

Watch for a profile of Marcel and her organization in our September issue.

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David Really Can Slay Goliath  But First He Must Show Up

The Elder Abuse Reform Now Project (EARN) Presents: The Unforgivable Truth: How We Have Turned America's Greatest Generation into America's Abused Generation

JOIN The EARN Project