Elder Abuse awareness

146 cases in Healdsburg area last year
One hundred and forty-six purple flags are planted outside the Healdsburg Senior Center this week, each one representing a reported case of elder abuse in the area in 2014.
According to the Sonoma County Human Services Department, that’s a fraction of the abuse that is actually taking place. The county estimates that only one in 23 cases of elder abuse or neglect are actually reported.
The local figure is part of a larger tally. More than 4,000 cases were reported in Sonoma County last year.
The Healdsburg number is actually 128, but 16 cases were reported in Geyserville and two in Knight’s Valley, and the senior center agreed to display flags for those cases as well.
Lea Black, the supervisor at the senior center, said the county handles reports and she doesn’t know how the cases turn out.
Not all cases involve physical abuse. Elders might be taken advantage of financially. “We have called in a couple of them,” she said. “It was something fiduciary, where someone was weaseling their way into someone’s life and taking things over,” Black said.
June 15 is Elder Abuse Awareness Day.
– Ray Holley