While taken seriously enough to be legally declare an offense classified alongside child abuse as a misdemeanor or a felony - elder abuse does not seem to be taken seriously by the public. Perhaps the most important step seems as helpless as children, but often they are not . And if impotence is the criterion , how do you explain the fact that domestic violence , which is not legally declare wake up more dismay and gets more attention and media coverage .
Perhaps this is due to neglect what national concerns , support and care of older people in general . Whatever the explanation , elder abuse is increasing and in the coming years will become dominant due to an explosion of older people and the simultaneous increase in Alzheimer's disease - a disease ravaging the minds and children become confused, undisciplined and dependents.
What is abuse ? It is the physical , political, sexual, emotional and / or economic elderly (over 65 years), most often by family members or caregivers . Abuse occurs in both isolated and in nursing by officials. "If the behavior is called abuse, neglect or exploitation will likely depend on the frequency with which violence occurs, its duration, severity and consequences.
" ( World Report on Violence and Health ) can occur for a variety of reasons - a debilitating physical or mental illness and / or long-term side close to the elderly , bringing the family or caregiver and problems of greed , anger or money in the case of financial exploitation. This is a growing problem that currently affects hundreds of thousands of elderly people in the United States , however, it is estimated that only 14 incidents were reported.
In 2010, the oldest baby boomers turned 65 . Over the next 30 years the population - one of the most important segments of our society - is on track to live longer, more than twice as many cases of Alzheimer's disease in the United States ' estimated 10 million American baby boomers will develop Alzheimer's disease in their life by putting a huge strain on the U.S. health care system and the already overburdened network of caregivers , a new report predicts . " (Washington Post, 03/18/2008 ) At present , there are 5 million Americans living with the disease - not all elderly With these statistics in mind, elder abuse will increase . exponentially. Why, because people who suffer from this disease are difficult to maintain and easy to operate .
A recent article in the New York Times entitled " financial time bomb of aging," focused on age-related spending by the government. The demographic change is underway - "for the first time in history , people of 65 years are about to outnumber children under 5 years " - means that this group is likely that the future of our domestic policy and international financial economic health. Having to care for and support older family members will have an impact on health , housing , employment , trade policies , pension funds and pension , environmental issues and education. We will not be able to ignore this population.
We need to take very seriously and start to adjust our institutions or drown in the huge financial and emotional burden they create. To begin, we need to make psychological changes so that older people are no longer seen as a burden and the debt burden of potential, but as a viable, valuable people with life experience and wisdom offer. This " change of attitude " has the added benefit of reducing elder abuse .
To cope with the impact of a more tangible way that we need to take a look at the institutions currently in place and begin to change so that they can respond more effectively to this population.
Health care , shelter , community services , support groups , employment in the nonprofit and private sectors, and education for caregivers to stop abuse are all areas where attention is required, transformation and growth . We can not stick your head in the sand and we continue to see the needs of the elderly "as a personal problem confined to his immediate family. They are an important part of our society. They live longer, bigger and competing health and financial problems looming - which threatens to undo our social fabric.
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