The MUSC Elder Abuse Training and Treatment Program is commemorating World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) with a very special Virtual Resource Fair from 11 am to noon on Thursday, June 10th, 2021. Their goal is to highlight the services their partners from across the state of South Carolina are providing for older adults, and how they support aging gracefully, peacefully, and respectfully.
During the fair, you can hear from organizations like the Trident Area Agency on Aging, Origin SC, SC Vulnerable Adult Guardian Ad Litem Program, Charleston Legal Access, and more. To register, sign up here and you will be sent the meeting information: https://redcap.musc.edu/surveys/?s=ECRCCKAN3K.
Under the leadership of program director, Tatiana Davidson, PhD, the Elder Abuse Assessment Training and Mental Health Services Program, a Victims of Crime Act-funded service grant, is training healthcare professionals in South Carolina on how to identify and refer cases of elder abuse, as well as provide mental health services at no cost to victims of elder abuse.
Every year an estimated 5 million, or 1 in 10, older Americans are victims of elder abuse, neglect, or exploitation. Experts believe that for every case of elder abuse or neglect reported, as many as 23.5 cases go unreported. WEAAD serves as a call-to-action for individuals, organizations, and communities to raise awareness about abuse, neglect, and exploitation of elders. The International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and the World Health Organization at the United Nations (UN) launched the first World Elder Abuse Awareness Day on June 15, 2006 in an effort to unite communities around the world in raising awareness about elder abuse. WEAAD is in support of the UN's International Plan of Action acknowledging the significance of elder abuse as a public health and human rights issue.
