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Take a Stand against Elder Abuse on June 15th – World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD)
June 15th marks the seventh annual World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD). WEAAD promotes activities to increase public awareness of the mistreatment of older adults throughout the world and highlight the need for appropriate action. It is intended to give abuse and neglect of older adults a global relevance that will sustain and move prevention efforts forward throughout the years to come. Millions of older Americans are abused, neglected or exploited each year, with an estimated 84% of cases going unreported. WEAAD offers the opportunity to focus on the problem of elder abuse and supports the United Nations International Plan of Action, which recognizes the significance of elder abuse as a public health and human rights issue.
White House Symposium on Elder Abuse on June 14th
This year in the U.S. the White House Office of Public Engagement, in collaboration with federal partners, is hosting a day-long symposium on elder abuse in recognition of WEAAD. The symposium takes place at the White House on Thursday, June 14, 2012 and will be webcast live on the White House website (http://www.whitehouse.gov/live ). This event will feature speakers from the federal government, national banking institutions and leading elder abuse experts. In recognition of WEAAD, consider hosting a “Watch Party” to broadcast any of the four sessions of the symposium. The four sessions are the following:
- 9:00a.m. – 9:45a.m. Opening Session
- 9:45a.m. – 11:30a.m. Panel on Prevention of Financial Exploitation
- 1:30p.m. – 3:15p.m. Panel on Responses to Financial Exploitation
- 3:30p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Closing Session
In addition to hosting a “Watch Party” of the symposium, there are other ways that you can take a stand against elder abuse. The following are a few suggested activities that you can do on June 15th:
- Host a lecture or presentation on elder abuse
- Volunteer to visit an isolated older adult
- Submit an editorial or press release to your local newspaper to promote awareness of elder abuse, neglect and exploitation
- Start a page on Facebook on the problem of elder abuse and resources available to fight elder abuse
NCEA Toolkit
The National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) also has made available a virtual ‘toolkit’ that offers information on how state and local communities can raise awareness of elder abuse, as well as, support materials, such as, factsheets. These resources are available on the NCEA website.
Throughout the world, elder abuse and exploitation largely remains an under-recognized social problem. Join us in heightening awareness of the various types of abuse that older adults are experiencing throughout the world. Take action on June 15th to make our world free of elder abuse!
Resources:
National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA)
AoA’s NCEA website contains many resources to help you find assistance, publications, data, information, and answers about elder abuse.
The International Network for Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA)
INPEA produced the Elder Abuse Awareness Community Guide Tool Kit (PDF). This Tool Kit provides sample ideas and templates for activities and examples of materials, resources, proclamations, and messages. Additionally, INPEA’s WEAAD web page features logos, posters, a fact sheet on elder abuse and other resources to promote WEAAD.
| Last Modified: 5/25/2012 2:26:05 PM |
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