Best Way To Catch Elder Abuse In Senior Care Facilities

There was an article in the Vancouver, British Columbia paper recently that discussed the threat to British Columbia's justice, social and health systems posed by a surge in elder abuse.

Statistics that showed elder abuse cases have surged 12% in the last three years. Overall officials put the percentage at 10% overall but they feel it's much higher.

That may seem extreme but it is not. In United States it has been estimated that 60% of all senior living facilities have some kind of elder abuse. There was a study done not too long ago that showed nine out of every 10 senior care facilities had a convicted felon on the staff.

How can that happen you ask? There has been such a rapid influx of baby boomers into retirement age in the last five years that soon seniors over 65 will outnumber the rest of us. That is just the start of the problem. As our citizens continue to age, the influx into retirement homes, long-term care facilities, home health care and senior homes just overwhelms the number of facilities and staff to handle them all.

The fastest-growing segment of higher education or specialized education is for nurses and nursing assistants to care for these seniors. One of the problems is that some of these facilities are more interested in making money than teaching and graduating qualified personnel. So not only is there a shortage of personnel, there is a shortage of trained personnel. Add to that a shortage of facilities and you have people scrambling for answers.

Home healthcare has become the answer for many people. It is certainly less expensive but it leaves itself more open to elder abuse than any other type of senior care. You're basically taking a complete stranger and putting them in a home with your mom or dad. With that kind of responsibility the vetting process should be very thorough. But there is such a rush to find someone, anyone, that background checks are often skipped.

Not too long ago the state of Texas legalized the use of hidden spy cameras in long-term care facilities to cut down on elder abuse. It has been greatly successful. You can take that same idea into your situation. Whether your parents are in a long-term care facility or in home healthcare hidden security cameras or hidden spy cameras can catch elder abuse like no other tool on the market and provide the documentation that's necessary to prosecute, if need be.