Giving a voice to the oft voiceless, Kendall County officials are bringing awareness to a growing national problem: elderly abuse.
June was officially adopted as Elder Abuse Awareness Month during a Kendall County Commissioners Court meeting Monday.
The motion was brought to the commissioners by Lisa Senteno, who serves on the Adult Protective Services Faith-based & Community Engagement Team.
In an article written for the San Antonio Area Foundation, Senteno said the proof is in the numbers, saying there have been more than 10,400 reports of abuse, neglect or exploita- tion in Bexar County alone.
“As Americans, we believe in justice for all. Yet we fail to live up to this promise when we allow older members of our society to be abused or neglected,” Senteno wrote. “Older people are vital, contributing members of American society and their maltreatment diminishes all of us.”
During Commissioners Court, Senteno cited the National Council of Aging, who found that one to five million older Americans are abused every year. The NCA also found that elder abuse is severely underreported: Although approximately one in 10 Americans 60 or older have experienced elder abuse, only one in 24 cases are reported.
The NCA considers physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, confinement, passive neglect, willful deprivation and financial exploitation forms of elder abuse.
The 2020 Census Bureau found that 18.8% of the population in Kendall County is 65 years old or older, and the Texas Department of Protective Services reported 120,000 cases of elder abuse filed in 2022.
The bureau also estimated that the 65 and older population in Kendall County increased to 20% of the population.
“This reminds us that elder abuse has implications for all of us,” Senteno said during the commissioners’ meeting. The motion to establish June as Elder Abuse Awareness Month was passed unanimously.
Lt. Christopher Walk from the Boerne Police Department said that signs of elder abuse can be very subtle.
Apparent injuries, withdrawing from family, withdrawing from contact, deteriorating hygiene and missing finances are among the signs that concerned members of the community can look out for.
Walk advised that reports of elder abuse be filed with APS first, although APS and the police department refer to each other on these cases often.
“Elderly individuals – they’re everyone’s mother, father, brother and sister. They’re really susceptible to abuse,” Walk said. “Similar to the way we look out for our children, if we turn our back on them, we’re really doing them a disservice.”
Elderly abuse can be reported by calling the Texas Abuse Hotline at 800-252-5400 or by filing a report online at https:// hhsportal.hhs.state.tx.us/iam/ portal/citizen. “
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Lt. Christopher Walk,
Boerne Police Department
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