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Emma Brown: Michigan's Attorney General's office says more than 73,000 older adults have been the victim of elder abuse. That's why state officials are trying to educate people on how to spot the signs of abuse and neglect.
WCMU's Tina Sawyer recently spoke with Cynthia Farrell, from Michigan Adult Protective Services, about what you need to know.
Cynthia Farrell: Someone might be their caretaker, and they might not be providing food or their medication. They may not providing maybe their mobility devices or other hearing aids, or things of that sort. So that puts them at a disadvantage. And then for financial exploitation, someone could, their bank account, like they never used an ATM before, now they have - there's an ATM card and there's transactions occurring. Could be checkbook, new credit cards that they didn't apply for.
Tina Sawyer: If somebody does recognize in those certain circumstances something that's going on, how does one go about making a report to report this case?
CF: Anyone can call our centralized intake. It's staffed 24/7, 365 days a year, and that takes both children's abuse case referrals and adults.
TS: And it's mandated to initiate investigations within 24 hours of receiving a report. So how do your investigators realistically balance that strict timeline with a heavy case volume throughout the state?
CF: It does get interesting at times, but centralized intake receives the referral and they review it and make a decision whether the referral is going to be assigned or denied, and then it goes to the local office, and the local office supervisor will then look at the caseload for their staff, and I believe they have a rotation where who's next in line for the next APS referral.
The 24 hours means that they could make a phone call, they don't have to see the person within 24 hours. We just have to start the investigation within 24 hours. So, they could make a phone call to the person who the referral is made about, or they can make a phone call to someone other than the referring source who is aware of the situation and may be able to provide different details. They have to be in person within 72 hours.
TS: Okay. Michigan law defines a vulnerable adult based on their inability to protect themselves. So how does your team assess vulnerability when an older adult is, maybe they're cognitively sharp, but physically or socially isolated, how do they go about regarding them as vulnerable and then taking initiative to try and help?
CF: They go out and they visit the client and they have a conversation and they go over, they make observation of what is occurring in the home. And someone may be very sharp mentally, but maybe physically, they've declined. And so, they wouldn't be able to protect themselves. Just because somebody has a disability doesn't automatically make them vulnerable. As you were saying, how are they unable to protect themselves? So that's one situation.
TS: How do you handle those cases, though, where someone needs help, but they say, no, I don't want it?
CF: Under our statute, if we've assessed that they do have capacity to make, you know, informed choices, what we would do, we sure that we can tell them about resources in the community. We tried to leave them better off than when we found them. They might not be aware that they are eligible for a resource. We would offer to help them make those referrals with them, so they didn't have to make them on their own. But if they chose not to accept, you know, our services, we would just leave the information and then we would end our investigation at that point.
TS: And what if someone is already in a nursing facility, but you suspect neglect of your loved one that's in there? What can you do?
CF: For someone that's in a nursing home, and if you're suspecting neglect from a staff person or another resident, that falls under LARA, under the Licensing and Regulatory Affairs statute, that you would make a referral to them. They do have a 1-800 number and they also have a complaint form online that can be filled out.
EB: If you suspect abuse, neglect, or exploitation of an older adult in your life, you can call the Michigan Adult Protective Services Agency 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at 855-444-3911. That's 855-444-3911.
