Alberta Seniors likely won’t provide elder abuse funding

By Gillian Slade on April 14, 2018.

gslade@medicinehatnews.com @MHNGillianSlade

Funding is probably not available from Alberta Seniors for a local program to continue to investigate cases of elder abuse and provide assistance.

“Seniors and Housing programs raise awareness about elder abuse and how to prevent it,” said a spokesperson for the minister for seniors and housing, in response to a question about funding for programs such as the one run locally run by Canadian Mental Health Association Alberta Southeast Region.

Raising awareness is important but having a program to help victims is crucial, said CMHA executive director Cori Fischer.

The funding that CMHA received through a victims of crime program to address elder abuse was abruptly stopped at the end of last month. On average, about six cases a year resulted in charges in Medicine Hat, said Fischer. Those numbers were not sufficient to meet the criteria for continued funding.

“If they don’t fit that category then where do they fit,” asked Fischer. “I don’t know where to make them fit and that’s the situation I am dealing with. Who do I turn to? I don’t have an answer to that right now. It is extremely frustrating and very disappointing. I have a lot of concerns about not finding the funding to continue the program.”

Elder abuse is an extremely important issue affecting some of the most vulnerable people in society and it is unacceptable that the government has decided to cut services, says Drew Barnes UCP MLA for Cypress-Medicine Hat.

“Abuse and fraud against the seniors who built this province is too widespread. At-risk seniors need support and it is one of Albertans’ top priorities,” said Barnes.

There are 18 active cases of elder abuse being handled by CMHA, with another six referrals this week alone.

Even one case would be justification to continue funding and provide intervention from being abused, said Rita Bessant, executive director CORE Association.

“The CMHA should not have to request this money from the community. It must be provided by the current government who establish and regulate this legislation in the first place. It scares me for the people who need this protection. This funding must be re-instated,” said Bessant.

There were 1,033 reported cases of elder abuse in Medicine Hat in 2013 being handled by Community Response to Abuse and Neglect of Elders (CRANE), which was based in the Veiner Centre under Senior Services. In 2014, the elder abuse case load was moved to CMHA, according to a News story at the time.

Alberta Justice and the Solicitor General provided CMHA $75,190 in 2017-18 and $72,000 the previous year from the victims of crime fund to provide support to victims of elder abuse and address possible gaps in the system in the Medicine Hat area, said a spokesperson for the ministry.

“However, during this two-year period, fewer than 10 clients identified as victims of crime received assistance from this program,” read an email. “It’s important to clarify that provincial legislation does not require a criminal charge to be laid in order for a person to receive assistance and support from a victim-serving organization — only that the client was the victim of a criminal incident.

“It was determined, after reviewing this program, that the current needs of criminal victims of elder abuse can be served by existing police-based victims’ services units with the Medicine Hat Police Service and the RCMP.”

In 2017/2018, CMHA was the recipient of $75,000 in funding for elder abuse, but it was one-time funding to determine the elder abuse needs in the community and produce a report on how this could best be addressed. This is taking place and will be wrapped up later this year.

The News requested an interview with Medicine Hat MLA Bob Wanner of the governing New Democrats. He did not respond by the press deadline.