15 June 2011

Aged care workers in the not-for-profit sector play a vital and often unrecognised role in detecting and reporting abuse of elderly people living in their own homes.

In the lead up to World Elder Abuse Awareness Day on 15 June, leading not-for-profit community and aged care provider, Spiritus, says the sector not only provides daily care to many thousands of elderly Queenslanders living independently in their own home but also monitors their well-being including personal safety, and medical and emotional health.

“People living alone and in residential facilities can be vulnerable to all types of abuse and it is an important that there is a caring eye watching over and supporting them, which in the case of Spiritus is provided by our care workers, Director of Spiritus Community and Aged Care, Della Warren said.

Spiritus is the caring arm of the Anglican Church in Southern Queensland supplying aged and community care and social services to the aged and disadvantaged.

Mrs Warren said World Elder Abuse Awareness Day provided families, the aged care sector and government with an opportunity to reflect on disturbing trends of elderly abuse and to put in place safeguards such as effective personal monitoring of aged people and giving reassurance to the elderly that they are supported in standing up to abusers.

She said that information supplied by the Queensland government showing that in the last 12 months  the Elder Abuse Helpline operated by ‘Lifeline’ took 1575 crisis calls from across the state indicated there was an unacceptable level of elder abuse.

“The aged care sector is an active supporter of  the human rights of elderly people and it works with them as a genuine advocate to government and the community on matters that affect the elderly including the eradication of abuse,” Ms Warren said.

Spiritus lives its advocacy role through  comprehensive policies that guide Spiritus aged care workers in developing  caring relationships with clients (including preventing abuse) and looking for signs of possible abuse and distress.

Mrs Warren suggests it is time for the sector and the community to begin a discussion about making mandatory the reporting of suspected abuse of an elderly person.

“Some professionals in certain workplaces are required by law to report suspected abuse of children and it could be that as a society we should now seriously be looking to further protect our senior citizens by making it mandatory for care workers and others to report suspected abuse to the authorities.

Certainly, at Spiritus we require our care workers to do just that and we prepare them through the provision of professional standards, policies and processes to help guide our staff and ensure all incidents are properly investigated for the successful management of  suspected abuse,” Ms Warren said. The Elder Abuse Hotline is also utilised by staff with concerns and provides another avenue of support to management.

Spiritus endorses and is a supporter of the Queensland Government’s  ‘Act as 1 Against Elder Abuse’ campaign to be launched as part of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.