In the state of Texas, May is officially Elder Abuse Prevention Month. Officials in Texas stress that now is an important time to go and check on your elderly family members and friends. If you don’t already take an active interest in their lives, this is something that you are urged to do. Thanks to a Texas state law, if you have any suspicions of elder abuse, neglect, exploitation, or anything that could be considered abuse, you are mandated to report it to their hotline. The hope is that spending extra time thinking about this and spending money on advertising this, cases of abuse can be more readily pointed out and ended.
An increased attention paid to the identification and prevention of elder abuse of any type is extremely important. But in reality, every month and every single day should place a high priority on the prevention of elder abuse, whether you’re in Texas, California, or the other side of the world. You should be taking an active role in the people that you care about and their lives every day, if possible. Our elderly loved ones deserve far better than to be scared, hurt, or neglected. This is basic human dignity that we are talking about. The tough part about this is that we might not know everything that is going on with our elderly family members, even if they live with us. There is potential for financial abuse, psychological abuse, and more to occur, even if it is right under our noses.
We do have an obligation to help prevent abuse whenever possible, and knowing what the basic warning signs of abuse are can be a great start. However, because this is someone that we love that we are thinking about, prevention is far better across the board than just putting an end to it.
Another way that we can help keep our loved ones safe from abuse is to only use caregivers and service providers that are highly trusted. A lot of people simply don’t have the time to thoroughly vet and perform background checks on caregivers. We understand that. That’s why we highly stress only using an in-home care service that performs background checks on the people that they employ. After this, training and the proper insurance can provide even more safeguards.
If you use an independent caregiver, are you going to be employing someone who will commit abuse? Probably not. Most people in the senior care business are there because they love others and sincerely want to help them. But if no background checks are conducted, there is a chance that a “bad apple” might slip through. The odds of this occurring to you are slim, but they are slightly higher. Taking a few minutes to make sure that your family member in need is cared for only by those that have had background checks and are thoroughly trained is a simple way to keep your loved one safer from abuse. Sometimes, just being aware and taking the right steps is all you need to do.
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