Schimel, DOJ roll out elder abuse prevention program

Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel has his sights set on those who target the elderly.

Schimel and the Department of Justice have rolled out a website (here) and an ad campaign meant to deal with elder abuse.

“We are working to try and raise awareness about a problem that’s pretty significant in Wisconsin,” Schimel said. “And it’s all the more significant because of the rapid pace at which our senior population is and will continue to grow.”

Schimel says over the last 12 months one in 10 seniors have experienced abuse, neglect or exploitation.

The new website, among other things, offers links to county helplines, police departments and local aging resource centers.

It is now up and running. Schimel says it's an attempt to raise awareness and create solutions for a growing problem in the state: Vulnerable seniors becoming victims, especially through financial exploitation.

“Sometimes they’re starting to struggle with late-in-life cognitive issues,” Schimel said. “Sometimes they’re just vulnerable because the internet is kind of a new world to them or maybe they’ve never been involved in financial transactions.”

Schimel says currently only one in 44 cases of financial exploitation among seniors gets reported.

“I’ve had bankers, financial planners tell me about clients they have that got wiped out, often times by a family member,” Schimel said. “Not always but often times, they could be living in poverty when they did save the resources to have a good retirement.”

Schimel says elder abuse is a problem that will continue to grow in the state with the number of seniors increasing by 72 percent by the year 2040.

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Schimel, DOJ roll out elder abuse prevention program 

Schimel: Website is latest step to stop elder abuse

GREEN BAY - A new website is the latest tool implemented by the Wisconsin Department of Justice to protect the elderly. 

The site, reportelderabusewi.org, is the next phase of the DOJ's campaign to both raise awareness about elder abuse and encourage people to report mistreatment of seniors.

Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel announced the website's launch Wednesday during a news conference at the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Brown County in downtown Green Bay. 

Schimel said the site is a place where people can go to learn what elder abuse is, who is at risk of elder abuse and how to go about reporting elder abuse to the proper authorities.

Green Bay police chief Andrew Smith, along with Todd Delain, chief deputy with the Brown County Sheriff's Office, said the site will help break down barriers that often deter the elderly and their families from reporting abuse, and put them in contact with people who can help. 

The site gives the elderly, their families and other loved ones a voice which, Schimel said, is invaluable when dealing with the seriousness of abuse and exploitation. 

“Elder abuse is drastically under-reported, and it can be deadly,” Schimel said. “Studies show that even modest abuse increases the chance of premature death by 300 percent, and because Wisconsin’s elderly population will increase 72 percent in the next two decades, we have to raise awareness, increase access to support for victims, and strengthen our response to every type of elder abuse.”

The site also lists resources for elder abuse victims such as adult protective services, The Elder Rights Project and more. 

As part of the awareness campaign, advertisements will run online in Wisconsin counties with the greatest number of reported cases of elder abuse as reported by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

Devon Christianson, ADRC director, said nearly 300 cases of elder abuse were reported in Brown County in 2017. 

The development of the website is funded by the Victims of Crime Act grant through the United States Department of Justice. The site follows of number of other steps in Attorney General’s Task Force on Elder Abuse Schimel launched in August 2017.

In March, Schimel announced the start of the Safe Seniors Camera Program — a pilot program that allows residents of Brown, Fond du Lac, Outagamie and Winnebago counties worried about potential elder abuse to use a covert camera for 30 days to watch someone they suspect is being harmed by a caregiver at their residence.  

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Schimel: Website is latest step to stop elder abuse