SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — The 28th annual Elder Abuse Conference brought together community members and professionals from Central New York. The event, sponsored by the Onondaga County Department of Adult and Long-Term Care Service, allowed many people to come and raise awareness about the issue of elder abuse.
Erica Wentworth, marketing director of Vera House, said events like these are important to help recognize elder abuse.
“They need to understand and be able to recognize how fraud is happening with them, how abuse is happening with the elder community and its not just one avenue that it happens. It happens in many avenues financially, physically, emotional,” said Wentworth.
Informing people on ways to identify elder abuse wasn’t the only thing on the agenda for this conference. Showing people a real story of financial elder abuse was important for Joe Applebaum, producer and co-founder of Clowder Group.
“It’s really important that we understand that this can happen to anybody in your own family, your friends, your neighbors, acquaintances,” said Applebaum.
Applebuam says looking for patterns is something he learned about combating elder abuse while filming “Fred’s Neighborhood.”
“Some of the things that we learned is the importance of what they call forensic accounting. Looking for patterns and spending patterns and who is making withdrawals and for how much and how often.Things of that nature, I think is super important,” said Applebaum.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Annual conference aims to raise awareness of elder abuse
Jack McGuire, Anchor: Elder abuse is a crisis that affects adults every year. Today community members and professionals came together to raise awareness and solutions. Our own Tyus Sansbury has more. Tyus?
Tyus Sansbury, Reporter: The 28th annual Elder Abuse Conference was held today. The event sponsored by Onondaga County Department of Adult and Long-term Care Service allow many people to come and raise awareness.
Sansbury: The conference brought together community members and professionals together to learn more about elder abuse. The event saw numerous speakers informing people about abuse. Erica Wentworth says events like this are important to recognize elder abuse
Erica Wentworth, Marketing Director of Vera House: They need to understand and be able to recognize how fraud is happening with them, how abuse is happening with the elder community and it’s not just one avenue that it happens. It happens in many avenues financially, physically, emotionally.
Sansbury: Informing people on ways to identify elder abuse wasn’t the only thing on the memo in this conference. Showing people, a real story of financial elder abuse was important for the Clowder group to show.
Joe Applebaum, Producer and Co-founder of Clowder Group: It’s really important that we understand that this can happen to anybody in your own family, your friends, your neighbors, acquaintances.
Sansbury: Applebaum says looking for patterns is something he learned when filming “Fred’s Neighborhood.”
Applebaum: Some of the things that we learned is the importance of what they call forensic accounting and looking for patterns and spending patterns and who is making withdrawals and for how much and how often. Things of that nature, I think, is super important.
Sansbury: Wentworth says if you suspect elder abuse. You can contact the Vera House or the Onondaga County Dept. of Adult and Long-Term Care Services. Reporting live in Syracuse, Tyus Sansbury NCC News.