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You want to know more about what we do? Jacob Plotnick, after spending many hours volunteering at an Elder Facility, after wrting some essays for HIgh School admission, decided he really wants to stop Elder Abuse. Our concept is to bring to attention to eldery ways to see how they are going to be potentially abused and a hot line to assist. THEPLA, To Help Elderly Prevent Laifelong Abuse was started by a thirteen year old and expanded upon with his High School friends to try and prevent Elder Abuse, which is a worlwide issue.
Please Read Jacob's essay, with some research, and his passion
Elder abuse is becoming a big problem in the U.S. and beyond. There are many different forms of elder abuse, including physical, mental and financial abuse. It is on the rise nowadays as more and more people find it an easy way to make quick cash or they simply do not like somebody because of how they act. According to the National Council on Aging, an estimated 5 million elders have been exploited, either sexually, financially, mentally or physically. That is about one tenth of the seniors in the U.S. alone, possibly being even more in places where it is less documented. With an estimated 36.5 billion USD lost annually. The worst part is that most of the time this abuse happens from the caregiver or the family of the elder, so almost always people close to them.
Physical abuse generally comes in the form of neglect or just abuse. Most of the time this is from the family of the respective elder because they simply can't handle living with another person even after they agree to and let them live with them. Other times this happens when their caretakers start to either neglect them or abuse them because they require too much work. Those are the main and most unfortunate ways that physical abuse happens, but it is not the only type of abuse.
Mental abuse, on the other hand, is from somebody yelling at the elder because they require too much attention from their care worker or family. It could also be other similar actions, such as mental torture from being locked in a room alone. In other cases, they are also yelled at by their family because they aren't doing something as good as expected. Most of the time, not to the elders' fault at all. As with physical abuse, mental abuse has nothing to do with the elder doing anything wrong.
Financial abuse is the outlier, oftentimes done by people unknown or relatively unknown to the elder, although it still does sometimes happen to people that the elder knows. These types of scams generally happen when somebody calls the elder and says they are a family member and asks for some money or impersonates an income center of which the elder gets money. Then they ask for their information so they can help them. Many times, the scammer impersonates Social Security. When financial exploitation happens with close family, they ask if they can borrow some money every month to help with bills. Next they will withdraw more money over time so the elder doesn't notice it while they're scamming them the entire time. Other similar scams also happen, but those are the most common.
The issue of elder abuse is really important to me since my family has taken in an elder who was in a bad situation in his life. The one person we did this to was Rev. William Lombardy. He was Bobby Fischer's coach for when he won the Chess World Championship. The main reason he was homeless is that over time people began to take advantage of him and he eventually didn't have enough money to survive so he couldn't afford a home. Once he was homeless, he was mistreated even more and eventually was mugged in New York, which is why we offered for him to come and move in with us. That's why it is really important for me that there is an end to mistreatment of elders.
In the last couple years I have spent many hours volunteering at a low-income elderly residence facility and I can see personally how elderly people feel about getting older. I see firsthand how some of elderly have a difficult time getting around, repeating themselves or maybe even having a funny smell. Lately, the residents and I even talk about what they see in the news where elderly are being attacked for no apparent reason, other than they are a target, in an attempt to accost them to steal a purse or money.
With my research for this essay, even though my experience is from a very localized area, it is obvious that the issue of how elderly are recognized and treated is a global issue. It is regrettable that younger people either physically, verbally, or financially do not give respect to the elderly. It is extremely unfortunate that elderly get abused, in some way, because they show the effects of neurological or physical problems that affect their mobility. It is just as shameful that they are mistreated because they forget or repeat themselves or even show signs of incontinence. I feel tremendously privileged to have an opportunity to see our government work to give elderly, who have low income, an ability to be in a safe facility where they can socialize, cook for themselves and get some extra needed assistance from some very generous organizations such as “food pantry”.
Elder abuse is becoming a big problem in the U.S. and beyond. There are many different forms of elder abuse, including physical, mental and financial abuse. It is on the rise nowadays as more and more people find it an easy way to make quick cash or they simply do not like somebody because of how they act. According to the National Council on Aging, an estimated 5 million elders have been exploited, either sexually, financially, mentally or physically. That is about one tenth of the seniors in the U.S. alone, possibly being even more in places where it is less documented. With an estimated 36.5 billion USD lost annually. The worst part is that most of the time this abuse happens from the caregiver or the family of the elder, so almost always people close to them.
Physical abuse generally comes in the form of neglect or just abuse. Most of the time this is from the family of the respective elder because they simply can't handle living with another person even after they agree to and let them live with them. Other times this happens when their caretakers start to either neglect them or abuse them because they require too much work. Those are the main and most unfortunate ways that physical abuse happens, but it is not the only type of abuse.
Mental abuse, on the other hand, is from somebody yelling at the elder because they require too much attention from their care worker or family. It could also be other similar actions, such as mental torture from being locked in a room alone. In other cases, they are also yelled at by their family because they aren't doing something as good as expected. Most of the time, not to the elders' fault at all. As with physical abuse, mental abuse has nothing to do with the elder doing anything wrong.
Financial abuse is the outlier, oftentimes done by people unknown or relatively unknown to the elder, although it still does sometimes happen to people that the elder knows. These types of scams generally happen when somebody calls the elder and says they are a family member and asks for some money or impersonates an income center of which the elder gets money. Then they ask for their information so they can help them. Many times, the scammer impersonates Social Security. When financial exploitation happens with close family, they ask if they can borrow some money every month to help with bills. Next they will withdraw more money over time so the elder doesn't notice it while they're scamming them the entire time. Other similar scams also happen, but those are the most common.
The issue of elder abuse is really important to me since my family has taken in an elder who was in a bad situation in his life. The one person we did this to was Rev. William Lombardy. He was Bobby Fischer's coach for when he won the Chess World Championship. The main reason he was homeless is that over time people began to take advantage of him and he eventually didn't have enough money to survive so he couldn't afford a home. Once he was homeless, he was mistreated even more and eventually was mugged in New York, which is why we offered for him to come and move in with us. That's why it is really important for me that there is an end to mistreatment of elders.
In the last couple years I have spent many hours volunteering at a low-income elderly residence facility and I can see personally how elderly people feel about getting older. I see firsthand how some of elderly have a difficult time getting around, repeating themselves or maybe even having a funny smell. Lately, the residents and I even talk about what they see in the news where elderly are being attacked for no apparent reason, other than they are a target, in an attempt to accost them to steal a purse or money.
With my research for this essay, even though my experience is from a very localized area, it is obvious that the issue of how elderly are recognized and treated is a global issue. It is regrettable that younger people either physically, verbally, or financially do not give respect to the elderly. It is extremely unfortunate that elderly get abused, in some way, because they show the effects of neurological or physical problems that affect their mobility. It is just as shameful that they are mistreated because they forget or repeat themselves or even show signs of incontinence. I feel tremendously privileged to have an opportunity to see our government work to give elderly, who have low income, an ability to be in a safe facility where they can socialize, cook for themselves and get some extra needed assistance from some very generous organizations such as “food pantry”.
Our Consultants
Jacob JosephJacob is our founder
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Amanda EliseAmanda is Jacob's sister and has worked for many years at a facility
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Bertha RayBertha Ray has been an adminstrator for almost twenty years at a facility
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Learn From the Best
EPlease go to our RSVP tab and contact us to setup an hour phone meeting. We have no financial goal and our only goal is to help prevent elderly abuse