Elder Abuse Awareness Week

This Thursday, seven days of elder abuse and neglect awareness begins. It’s a time to acknowledge social workers like Rachel MacKinnon and Sally Raymond who protect our most vulnerable people every day by intervening when family fail to care for their elders.

Not all cases of neglect and abuse are due to malice or deceitful motives. Neglect sometimes occurs when families/caregivers, who have done their best for a long time become completely exhausted and overburdened with the commitment to care for a loved one, Rachel and Sally say. "Sometimes an older person's needs increase while the ability of a family member to keep up with those needs can decline, and often the outcome of our involvement can be a recommendation and referral to ensure that the client is receiving all supports that may be available to them and their family to support the whole situation being as safe and sustainable as possible."

To give an example of how our social workers help vulnerable older people, when interviewed Sally was about to head out on a home visit to seek additional information about a significant amount of money being removed from an older person's bank account. It was unknown if he was aware of this and agreeable to it or not - hence the need for social workers like Sally to assist.

Every day Rachel, in particular, does her best to educate vulnerable older people, clinicians, social services, families and caregivers about how enduring power of attorney should be properly used.

“We see a lot of people who have been appointed as Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) who don’t really understand what it means and the rights and responsibilities that come with it” Rachel says. “The one thing people need to know is that an EPA is a bit like a safety plan. A person - who has the mental capacity to do so - puts it in place for if a time ever arises that they don’t have capacity. The idea is that this will ensure that their views are represented when they are unable to do this for themselves.”

Recently Rachel and Sally helped a client whose family had been holding onto the client's bank card for years until the social workers intervened. Finding out about that instance of abuse began with vigilant staff from an adult activity centre contacting Northland DHB, Rachel explains.

“Right from the start my role was to meet with the client. It’s not always appropriate to meet at the home so I visited at the community activity facility. After a couple of gentle, relaxed conversations to put the client at ease, the client revealed a number of concerns they had and spoke about their wishes going forward. Our role then became standing beside the client to achieve the outcome they wanted.”

“We often need to remind families that our client is the older person and, while families are a huge important part of that, the reality is that sometimes we have to support the older person by helping families to understand that this isn’t their decision to make – it’s not about what they want but what the older person wants” Rachel says.

Good relationships with Work and Income, community activity facilities, Home Support Providers and Needs Assessment Service Coordinators (NASC) staff, as well as applications under Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act (PPPR) all help to keep clients safe. The aforementioned client passed away soon after Rachel and Sally supported them to resolve their worries, but they left the world from a place of their choosing and where they were respected.

In another recent case Rachel used a team approach when helping an elderly client who lacked capacity and who was being badly neglected by carers. “It was really good to have a NASC assessor at the home visit along with me to ask medical questions and note medical observations. We also rang a geriatrician to discuss our concerns and explore options we had available.

We then organised for an ambulance and for the client to be admitted to hospital. The client didn’t have an EPA and, because they were lacking capacity, they couldn’t appoint one or make informed decisions about where to go. That meant we applied for an urgent PPPR order through the Family Court to enable the client's day to day care needs to be met in a residential care facility and for their funds to be looked after by Public Trust.”

Urgent PPPR orders can temporarily help to ensure a person’s safety, protect them from abuse or neglect and ensure their day to day care needs are met while longer term options are considered by the court and family. Rachel is skilled in managing complex cases of Elder Abuse and Neglect including making PPPR applications and co-ordinating interventions relating to abuse and neglect, while Sally is available for site visits, working with Work & Income, family conferences and to sit down with older people and work out how to support them.

Both Sally and Rachel are available to discuss concerns about vulnerable adults in our community.

Important Workshop July 3

Northland DHB is presenting a workshop for professionals involved in the care management of cognitively impaired individuals on July 3 2017 entitled: '"I didn't ask to be here"' - Detaining older people without consent.' The workshop is designed to provide practical advice and knowledge around the ever-increasing diversities that surround the management of providing services to this group of vulnerable older people. Bookings are essential so register your interest in this workshop by emailing: sandie.kirkman@northlanddhb.org.nz

Where to go and who to contact:

- If you are asked to become EPA for a donor, you have a legal responsibility to carry out the wishes of the donor. For more information see:

https://www.ageconcern.org.nz/ACNZ_Public/Enduring_Power_of_Attorney.aspx.

- To make a PPPR application, there is no fee at the Court but legal fees may be involved. If you work in healthcare and require guidance on this, please contact Rachel.Mackinnon@northlanddhb.org.nz .

ENDS

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