Panelists from law enforcement, Adult Protective Services, and a domestic violence agency spoke in Farmington last week. Citing statistics from recent studies by the Maine Attorney General’s Office and Office of Elder Services, Jessica Dorr stated that 12,000 Maine residents age 60 and above are abused each year. Dorr, a community educator on domestic violence [...]

Community and governmental organizations on every continent will recognize world elder abuse awareness day on Wednesday, June 15th. The day is in support of the United Nations International Plan of Action on Aging, which recognizes that elder abuse is a significant public health and human rights issue. People are encouraged to wear purple on June [...]

A recent study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal analyzed the risk of psychotropic medications given to nursing home residents. One type of psychotropic medication, atypical antipsychotics, has already proven to increase the risk of stroke and death in the elderly. Physicians have continued to prescribe other types of psychotropic medications to manage behavioral [...]

A recently published guide for consumers of long-term care provides information about consumers’ options and rights. The guide provides helpful advice for choosing long term care facilities or providers, and advocating for quality care. For instance, thoroughly documenting a problem with care in a nursing home makes a complaint to the Director of Nursing or [...]

When the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services, Daniel R. Levinson, checked the names of more than 35,000 nursing home employees with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to see if they had criminal records, he found that 92% of nursing homes employed at least one person with a criminal conviction. Nearly [...]