As reported recently by the Associated Press newswire, the number of people aged 65 and over in North America is set to double to nearly 150 million people by 2030, and a growing number of them are suffering abuse, whether at the hands of family members or caregivers. The abuse can appear in many forms, including physical, emotional, verbal, or financial.
“It's a huge issue, and it's just going to get bigger,” Sharon Merriman-Nai of the Clearinghouse on Abuse and Neglect of the Elderly, based at the University of Delaware, told the news wire. She cited research that as many as one in ten seniors have suffered some form of elder abuse.
And while the challenge is great, senior living communities are looking for solutions.
One Ohio assisted living community, Shalom Center, for example, offers a ‘virtual shelter’ where abused seniors can have a respite while case workers are sorting out their file.