Elder abuse is a term referring to any action or non-action that results in harm to an elderly or older helpless person. Abuse can happen anywhere, in the older person's home, nursing home or hospitals and it can happen no matter the person's socio-economic group, culture or race.
This problem and its resulting consequences have personal meaning for me because my mother had been abused while a resident in a nursing facility.
My mother had suffered a massive stroke which affected her speech and left her paralyzed on her right side. Because of the severity of the stroke and her declining health, she needed on-going nursing care so she had to be placed in a nursing home.
She lived in this facility for 4 years. My children and I were constant visitors and we knew the administrative staff and caregivers very well, or so we thought.
One day while visiting my mom and after a lovely walk around the grounds I was getting up to leave and said I would take her back to her room. She didn't want me to leave or to go back in. Her aphasia prevented her from verbalizing words but one sound she could make was "waiter". She was able to understand things, so for the next hour I tried coming up with reasons why she didn't want me to leave when finally I was inspired to ask if she was afraid of something. That was the breakthrough question and when she nodded affirmatively, I knew there must be more to this fear of hers.
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