Event set to bring awareness to elderly abuse

An international event is set to celebrate World Elder Abuse Awareness Day throughout the West Auckland and Auckland Central regions.

Various events will be hosted on June 15 by Age Concern, a non-profit organisation which aims to bring international awareness to the signs of elder abuse.

Toni Wheat, a social worker and coordinator for Age Concern Auckland, said information is key.

"We try to give supportive information people may need, like how to get enduring power of attorneys and all sorts of information to try and counteract or promote awareness."

By providing information sessions and talks which promote identifying the signs of elder abuse and where to go for help, the event hopes to draw attention to the silent plight of the elderly community.

Chief executive officer of Age Concern Counties Manukau, Wendy Bremner, said relationships are important too.

"It's themed around connection, because the best way to prevent abuse is to have connections with other people, because if people are isolated, they're most at risk.

"I suppose if you're thinking of [young] people, you do a lot of connections through technology, so you use social media and texting and Snapchat. Technology is a great tool for connecting with other people, but it's only a good tool if you know how to use it and the people you're wanting to connect to know how to use it as well."

Ms Bremner explained that people are often unaware that elder abuse exists.

"If it's not really visible and in front of them, they're unaware of it, which is why it's so important to have awareness-raising activities."

Ms Bremner added that society is often "very ageist" against older people, being less accommodating to any difficulties they may be having.

"It's not uncommon to stand in line at a supermarket and maybe the person that's serving them rolling their eyes because the person is taking a little bit longer to find their change, or words they want to use or something like that. People have less empathy than if it was a child doing the same thing."