Mr. Lamb the PR flack for CSESPS may be misleading the public. State law provides jurisdiction to his employer only for abuse by caregivers, relatives, spouses, intimate partners, and housemates. Stranger abuse will not be stopped or investigated. The attorney, now director of CSESPS has a misguided notion of what constitutes unlawful discrimination based on disability. His employees refuse to provide services to elder persons unless they can prove they are not mentally ill. That suggests this taxpayer funded agency unlawfully denies service to persons with disabilities. It is not the only taxpayer funded agency with negligently trained employees who deny services unlawfully. This essay indicates the image varies greatly from the reality. Funds for a PR flack would be better spent training employees to include elders with disabilities as clients.
[From article]
it’s a problem that far too often goes unreported
[. . .]
10 percent of older adults experience some form of abuse each year — with less than 5 percent of those incidents reported to authorities.
[. . .]
Studies indicate that most abusers are family members or trusted care providers,
[. . .]
public often isn’t aware of how common elder abuse is.
[. . .]
Somerville-Cambridge Elder Services (SCES)
[. . .]
For us, the imperative is that people know what constitutes elder abuse, and that Protective Services is here to help, when it’s reported.
[. . .]
Nathan Lamb is director of outreach and community relations
http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/news/20160612/guest-column-preventing-elder-abuse/?Start=1
Guest column: Preventing elder abuse
By By Nathan Lamb
Posted Jun. 12, 2016 at 8:14 AM
CAMBRIDGE Chronicle
No comments:
Post a Comment