Macomb Co. alliance aims to brings attention to senior abuse and serve victims

by Anne Snabes

Macomb County Office of Senior Services Director Sheila Cote said her colleagues have seen more and more cases over the last few years where they're concerned about the safety of older adults in the community.

She found out that some other counties in Michigan have elder abuse taskforces and ultimately decided to create her own in Macomb. The Macomb County Elder Justice Alliance, which was formed in 2023, brings together various organizations that respond to elder abuse and other senior issues, allowing them to share resources with each other.

The alliance also educates caregivers and seniors about abuse. The alliance says elder abuse includes physical, emotional and sexual abuse, financial exploitation and neglect.

In some cases, a family member is taking advantage of a senior. In others, the older adult lost money in a scam. Sometimes the senior is facing eviction.

"It's time to … call the alarm and and bring attention to this issue and bring community awareness to this issue," Cote said.

She said 1,480 calls or referrals were made to Adult Protective Services' hotline for suspected abuse, neglect or exploitation of people 60 years and older in Macomb County in 2022, and 1,700 calls or referrals were made in 2023. She noted that abuse is underreported, as some people don't know who to call or who to report it to.

"It's almost an epidemic at this point," she said of mistreatment of older adults.

The Macomb County Elder Justice Alliance is made up of roughly 30 to 40 organizations, ranging from the Macomb County Sheriff's Office and Sterling Heights Police Department to the Macomb County Community Mental Health and Shelby Township Senior Center, Cote said. One of the alliance's subcommittees meets monthly to talk about cases of elder abuse or cases where a senior is very vulnerable and needs additional support.

The alliance is one of 33 multidisciplinary teams across the state, according to Cynthia Farrell, the division director for Adult Services in the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

Cote said that a few years ago, she met with the Muskegon County taskforce and the Genesee County taskforce to learn about their operations. She also contacted the Michigan Department of Attorney General, which offered to help her start a taskforce in Macomb. She said the department has a model in place to set up these taskforces. The Macomb County alliance had its first meeting in March 2023.

The issue of elder abuse

Nearly one-fifth, or 19%, of Macomb County's population is over the age of 65, according to U.S. Census figures. And the number of 65 and older households grew 27% between 2010 and 2022, according to Census data analyzed by the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments.

Nearly 300 people or entities were charged, meanwhile, were charged with a consumer crime against a senior in the county in 2024, according to the Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido. About 150 of those cases are still open.

Eight people have been charged with assaulting a senior this year, and five of those cases are still open. Meanwhile, about 20 people have been charged with embezzling a senior, with at least half of the cases still open.

The prosecutor's office has a Consumer Protection Unit and a Senior Crime Unit. Lucido said some seniors are scammed by family members who have substance abuse or gambling issues. He said other seniors lose money to "seedy" contractors or to people on the Internet.

He said seniors spend a lot of time online, especially during the winter.

"When it's cold out ― they can't get outside ― they're online," he said, "and there's a trust being built with the people they're talking to, and all of a sudden, a scam happens."

Warren resident Shane Price manages the finances of an 80-year-old man. He said a woman who was addicted to drugs was living with the man in Warren. He said the woman wasn't contributing to the senior's rent and he was in fact giving her money.

"This man has several people in his life that could very well be ― they could be good people," Price said. "Perhaps they just weren't sure how to help out in the first place."

Price said he thinks the general public should be educated about how to spot an older adult who "potentially has something going on in their life" and might need help. He said he didn't know that Adult Protective Services existed until a Meals on Wheels worker told him about it.

What the Elder Justice Alliance does

The Macomb County Elder Justice Alliance has two subcommittees, one of which is called the Multi-disciplinary Team. When the team meets, they talk about individual older adults who are victims or who need additional support or services, Cote said.

A representative of the prosecutor's office, for example, might talk about someone she is working with who needs Meals on Wheels. Or maybe the individual doesn't have a place to live, and the team could help them find housing.

"It's really an opportunity to share resources and better support that person," Cote said.

Farrell, the division director for Adult Services in the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, said an Adult Protective Services employee participates in the multidisciplinary meetings, and they have been helpful for her division.

"We are very much wanting to promote these multidisciplinary teams, because it really takes a village to really work with some of these clients," she said. "They have multiple needs, and not one entity is going to be able to meet all their needs."

The Elder Justice Alliance also has a prevention subcommittee, which meets monthly. They do tasks such as educating seniors about who to call when they suspect abuse and talking to caregivers about "appropriate boundaries," Cote said.

"I think some caregivers believe, 'Well, I'm handling their money so I can help myself to their money,'" she said. "Well, no, that's not OK."

She said the prevention subcommittee also tries to address "the loneliness and isolation problems" experienced by older adults. They have done surveys at some senior living apartments and have set up focus groups, where seniors can talk about how to alleviate loneliness in their buildings.

Cote said that in October, Macomb County Office of Senior Services received a $750,000 grant from the Department of Justice. The money will be used to train professionals and to provide services to victims.

Office of Senior Services lead case manager Jennifer Wilczek said her position was created as part of the formation of the alliance. She works one-on-one with seniors and makes sure they are receiving the assistance they need.

Wilczek said Adult Protective Services is limited in what it can do. She said the Macomb County Elder Justice Alliance is "filling that gap."

"This kind of fills that gap to provide support and assistance to folks ... in working with Adult Protective Services and what they can do," she said.

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Macomb Co. alliance aims to brings attention to senior abuse and serve victims

Minnesota senator demands greater disclosure on senior abuse, investigations

Sen, Karin Housley, chairwoman of the Senate committee on aging and long-term care, said she is preparing a package of reforms to address widespread abuse in Minnesota's senior care facilities.

The head of a key committee in the Minnesota Senate is preparing a package of reforms that would expand the state’s power to investigate elder abuse, while eliminating much of the secrecy that surrounds such investigations.

Sen. Karin Housley, chairwoman of the Senate Aging and Long-Term Care Policy committee, said the state must act swiftly to address what she termed “an emergency situation” involving criminal abuse in senior care homes that goes uninvestigated and unpunished.

“This must stop,” Housley said in an interview. “When you hear these horrific stories of abuse, and hear reports of families waiting years for some resolution to an investigation, you realize that we need more resources in this area.”

Housley, a Republican from St. Marys Point near Afton, was responding to a Star Tribune investigation published this week that detailed chronic failures by state regulators to investigate incidents of criminal abuse in senior care homes.

The investigation found that hundreds of residents of such homes are beaten, sexually assaulted or robbed each year. Yet the vast majority of these incidents are never resolved, in part because the state agency charged with regulating such facilities lacks the staff and forensic expertise to investigate them.

Gov. Mark Dayton also responded to the series, announcing Wednesday that he would create a cabinet level task force to address the state’s failure to protect elderly residents from abuse. Dayton said he wants reform proposals in time for the 2018 Legislature, which convenes in February.

Dr. Ed Ehlinger, the state health commissioner, said in an interview that the agency was caught off-guard by a surge of maltreatment allegations, which have increased sevenfold since 2010. “We’ve been running fast to catch up, but it’s clear we’re not running fast enough,” he said.

With funding approved early this year by the Legislature, the department plans to double the number of staff devoted to investigating and processing maltreatment complaints. In addition, the agency is modernizing its computer systems so that it can share more information about abuse investigations electronically.

The state Department of Health also plans to expand its efforts around preventing abuse, through increased collaboration with senior care providers, Ehlinger said. “We’re trying to expand the narrative to make sure that prevention is a piece,” he said.

The Star Tribune report also highlighted the obstacles many families face when they try to find out what happened to their loved ones in senior facilities. Even in cases of serious abuse, involving physical or sexual assaults, families are often told that the state’s investigations are confidential and that they are not entitled to even basic details.

These investigations can drag on for months without a resolution, according to records reviewed by the Star Tribune. As a result, relatives of abuse victims are sometimes kept in the dark indefinitely.

Housley said such secrecy is “untenable” and prevents families from making informed judgments about care for their loved ones. She is crafting legislation that would require senior care facilities and the Minnesota Department of Health to share details of abuse reports with elderly victims or their assigned legal representatives.

Last year, the Health Department received more than 25,000 allegations of maltreatment in state-licensed senior homes, including unexplained injuries, resident-on-resident altercations, physical abuse by staff, and thefts.

When these reports are filed by facilities, known as “self reports,” they are kept confidential from victims and families until they are completed. But 99 percent of these facility self-reports are never investigated on site by the state Health Department, which means that details of thousands of allegations never come to light. Many of these cases are dropped without the family ever knowing the scope of the abuse.

Suzanne Scheller, an attorney from Champlin and founder of Elder Voice Family Advocates, an advocacy group for better care for seniors, said senior residents and their legal representatives should be made aware of any allegations that the resident has been abused, as soon as they surface.

Senior industry representatives have long maintained that the public benefits from some privacy, because facilities are more likely to report abuse if they know the information will not be made public.

A number of senior advocacy groups, including the Minnesota chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association and the Minnesota Elder Justice Center, said they support giving abuse victims and their relatives greater access to state maltreatment investigations.

“Transparency and openness to families should be at the center of the discussion,” said Beth McMullen, vice president of government affairs for the Alzheimer’s Association.

However, another prominent legislator said the state should focus on enforcing current laws before creating new ones.

“The reason we’re in this much trouble is because we’re not following the laws that we already have,” said Sen. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, chairman of the Senate Human Services Reform Finance and Policy Committee.

For instance, state law requires that investigations into allegations of abuse and neglect in senior facilities be completed within 60 days. Last year, however, the Health Department completed only 15 percent of such investigations on time.

In addition, state law says that home care and assisted-living providers must undergo full inspections at least every three years. A review of public records, however, found that fewer than half of these providers are receiving such inspections on schedule. Some assisted-living facilities have never been inspected, records show.

“People have died at the hands of facilities that people thought were safe,” Abeler said.

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Minnesota senator demands greater disclosure on senior abuse, investigations

Court Authorized Exploitation under Guardianship-Senior Abuse

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Court Authorized Exploitation under Guardianship-Senior Abuse