World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

The National Elder Abuse Prevalence study of 2015 states 8.2 per cent of seniors polled in previous year experienced abuse and other reports tell us that many situations are not reported. It means that as many 8,000 seniors in Edmonton experience abuse. World Elder Abuse Awareness Day event is recognized world wide as a day to acknowledge the seriousness and determental effect of this social issue;as declared by the United Nations –World Health Organization. Awareness raising is seen as an important step in the prevention and intervention of elder abuse. This year the focus in Edmonton will be on the needs of the ethno-cultural communities whose seniors have added barriers of being new immigrants or still living as new immigrants. The challenges are greater with new immigrants who are more isolated than other more established seniors. We know that as Isolation increases elder abuse increases in the amount and the degree of seriousness. Our theme is reaching out and inviting in- moving forward together to stop elder abuse which highlights the need for greater collaboration starting with greater understanding amongst service providers, ethno-cultural groups and seniors themselves.