More than 300 people joined an online educational forum presented this week by the Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s Elder Abuse Commission aimed at helping older Ohioans avoid financial exploitation, a common form of elder abuse, according to a press release by the Attorney General’s office.
The Ohio Star previously reported Wednesday’s forum – titled “Responding to Financial Exploitation, Scams and Fraud in Facility Settings” – was part of the commission’s annual “Protecting Older Ohioans” series, presented in partnership with the Ohio Association of Senior Centers, Ohio Association of Area Agencies on Aging, and Ohio Department of Aging.
A point of emphasis during the event was that financial exploitation crosses all social, educational and economic lines, the press release notes. The forum covered a host of topics, including types of scams that commonly target older adults, the warning signs of exploitation, how to be proactive, what to do if you suspect financial exploitation, and more.
“Estimates are that older people lose billions of dollars each year to theft and fraud,” Yost told attendees. “This is a crime that threatens not just our elderly relatives, but all of us who will be fortunate enough to live into old age. So we all have an interest in improving the way we protect older Ohioans.”
The recording of the forum will be posted to the event’s webpage on March 9.
Elder abuse has been a hot topic in Ohio for several years. In December, The Star reported that Governor Mike DeWine (R) signed Esther’s Law, which passed unanimously through the Ohio General Assembly, helping Ohioans protect their elders from abuse.
The law is a realization of years of effort on behalf of an activist named Steven Piskor, who in 2011 used a hidden camera to catch employees at a nursing home facility run by MetroHealth Medical Center abusing his mother, Esther. The abuse was so severe that two members of the staff were jailed.
After proof of abuse had been revealed, Piskor fought to create and pass the legislation named for his mother, which allows Ohioans to put cameras in the care facility rooms of elders under their care, as long as they disclose the cameras to facility staff.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Dave Yost” by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.
