Proper funding needed to tackle elder abuse
By GILLIAN SLADE on February 26, 2020.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade A local group is calling for sustainable funding to fully address elder abuse in the community. Shantel Ottenbreit, community resource worker with the city, says good work is being done to build local awareness, but funding is needed for an organization to take on the responsibility and provide a case worker. “In our community nobody has the specific mandate of actually taking on elder abuse and doing the case work,” said Ottenbreit. “So that is the gap that continues to exist.” According to a city document from a presentation by Medicine Hat and Area Elder Abuse Prevention Coalition, there is no current data for the prevalence of elder abuse in Medicine Hat, but based on national data it would be more than 1,600 in the past 12 months. Ottenbreit says part of the case worker’s job is spending the necessary time to really understand what is taking place. A senior may say a specific person is “not treating them very well” but after speaking in depth it becomes evident it has gone beyond that. Currently there is no funding to apply for – Lethbridge has funding through the Justice and Solicitor General’s “victims of crime” grant, however the government is not accepting new applications. A grant that Canadian Mental Health Association received through Alberta seniors and housing for a “co-ordinated community response” runs out at the end of March. That funding did not include providing for a caseworker to meet with people affected. Alberta seniors and housing has not announced any new funding. Background: Prior to the 2013 flood affecting the Veiner Centre there were city staff operating the Community Response to Abuse and Neglect of Elders. CRANE reported handling 20 elder abuse cases in 2011. In 2013, there were 1,033, of which 22 were being actively investigated by CRANE. By the summer of 2014 CRANE was no longer operating under senior services. “CRANE is now operated by Canadian Mental Health Association,” said Varley Weisman, manager of social development and senior services in a story published in the News on July 9, 2015. “We were involved in the process of setting up that job description with CRANE and CMHA stepped forward to house the position and be the carrier of the money.” In September 2015 the provincial government made $1 million available in grants to help communities prevent elder abuse. According to Hansard, June 16, 2015, NDP Health Minister Sarah Hoffman said one in 10 seniors “is suffering the harmful effects of elder abuse.” That year $3 million over three years was made available to communities. In 2015 CMHA received 77 calls related to elder abuse. In 2017 the NDP government’s Minister of Seniors and Housing Lori Sigurdson, announced $1.5 million in funding, of which $75,000 was for CMHA to determine the need and develop a report. 19-18
