At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many experts warned that the potential for elder abuse was going to be higher than ever. With lockdown restrictions in place throughout the country and an ability to supervise loved ones taken away from many families, a lot of seniors were placed at risk. And now, to no one’s surprise, data is beginning to show that these predictions were correct. Cases of elder abuse and exploitation are on the rise.
It’s not just the elderly that are being taken advantage of. Even the State of New York famously got swindled by entering into a deal for ventilators that were never delivered. This is a scary time, and it’s a time when predators swoop in and look for an easy couple bucks.
The elderly are targets much of the time, unfortunately. They are a population that often needs help, and it is easy to target those that are a little too trusting with their money. But it is real people that are hurt when this happens. People that we love.
During our current situation, supervising loved ones is tough, but that does not make it impossible. There are a lot of safeguards that can be put in place to help us keep tabs on our older loved ones, but realistically, these safeguards should have been in place and tested before quarantine had begun. Because so few people were really prepared for an event of this magnitude though, this wasn’t something that the vast majority of people had put into effect.
No one deserves to be taken advantage of. That’s one of the important factors of senior care: trust. When you hire a care service, you are placing your trust in those people. You are relinquishing a little bit of control of a loved one’s health to someone else–and you deserve the very best when you do this. The whole point of senior care is to give your loved ones the care and supervision that you cannot adequately provide with ease on your own. Caregivers are professionals and the service that they provide is supposed to be of a high quality. It’s what you should be looking for in a caregiver.
But not everyone is perfect. Some people go into senior care for the wrong reasons. Some people take advantage of others for their own gain. It is sad, but it’s a truth of our world. That’s why we take every single precaution that we can to never let this happen to the families that we work with. We conduct background checks on people before they are hired, we provide ongoing training, and we fully insure everyone that works with the elderly on our staff. It’s all designed to help families feel comfortable with this tough transition.
And we’re here to help you. Please call us if you have questions about senior care and we would love to help you get the process started. Even if it’s only to answer a few of your questions, we’re here to help our community find the best care out there for their unique set of needs.
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