Minutes of ESCOTA General Meetings

Minutes from the Thursday, March 10, 2011 General Membership Meeting

Date of Meeting: Thursday, March 10, 2011
Presentation: New York State 2010 Elder Abuse Summit: Research Finding & Action Agenda
Speaker: Ken Onaitis, MSW, and Jean Callahan, Esq., MSW

Reeva Mager called the meeting to order at 3:30pm and welcomed the group. The meeting was hosted by the Carter Burden Luncheon Club. Mary Dodd, Director of the Social Service Unit of The Carter Burden Center for the Aging, spoke briefly about the programs of The Carter Burden Center, which include serving 100 meals/day, a computer lab, Meals-on-Wheels covering 69th to 79th streets on the East Side, and Making Art Work, an art program with a gallery at 27th and Seventh featuring exhibits by senior artists.

Announcements:

• Ken Onaitis announced that the Carter Burden Center for the Aging has an opening for an LMSW, bilingual English/Spanish preferred, in CEMAPP – community Elder Mistreatment and Abuse Prevention Program. Applicants must be flexible and able to thrive working independently. Responsibilities include crisis intervention counseling, home-visits, facilitating a support group, and doing elder abuse training in the community. Client advocacy, especially with the police, court, and medical systems, is a major component of the work. Experience working with older adults and knowledge of elder abuse or domestic violence preferred. Benefits include fully paid medical and dental insurance. Salary is commensurate with experience. Send cover letter and resume to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
• Andrew Margolin of Ameriprise Financial announced that he and Karmen Duncan of Hallmark Senior Living are organizing financial education events for the residents and family members of the Hallmark at that location. The 1st event will be "Multigenerational Financial Planning". He stated that he is available to conduct/sponsor other financial education events. He can be reached at 917 472-2673 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). For more information about Andrew, Ameriprise, and the services he provides, please go to his website: http://www.ameripriseadvisors.com/andrew.p.margolin.
• Nancy Houghton announced the Health Advocates’ Advisory Board’s launch of the Senior Housing Opportunities Resource Guide. The guide is intended to help those who find it difficult to remain in their current homes find appropriate housing solutions. It includes definitions of the types of possible housing for seniors in New York City from a variety of sources as well as suggestions about the best way to make decisions and instructions on how to handle the applications process. Senior housing alternatives are listed by zip code, with maps. It is free of charge and easily accessible to read, keep and/or print by downloading it from the Health Advocates’ website, http://www.hafop.org.
• Craig Budzynski made the following announcement: Bayada Nurses seeking a dynamic Registered Nurse to fill the position of Registered Nurse Clinical Manager in our Manhattan, New York office. The Registered Nurse Clinical Manager has responsibility to clinically supervise all services being provided in the home, monitor for quality and adherence to policies and procedures, and act as internal case manager. Responsibilities include visiting adult home care clients, performing assessments, developing care plans, supervising field staff on a regular basis, and coordinating care with referral sources, doctors and other professionals. Info: Craig Budzynski,
  212.354.9400, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), http://www.bayada.com

Check our website escota.info for updates.

Presentation:

New York State 2010 Elder Abuse Summit: Research Findings & Action Agenda



Ken Onaitis, MSW, Director Of Elder abuse and Police Relations at the Carter Burden center for the Aging. Mr. Onaitis serves on the Executive Committee of the New York State Coalition on Elder Abuse, and the Advisory Boards of the William B. Hoyt Memorial Children and Family Trust Fund, the New York State Adult Abuse Training Institute, and New York City Elder Abuse Center. He previously was Co-Coordinator of the New York City Elder Abuse Network (NYCEAN) and the Gerontological Committee of NASW/NYY.

Jean Callahan, Esq., MSW, Director of the Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging and Longevity. Ms. Callahan has extensive experience with the public policies and legal issues that affect the lives of senior citizens. Prior to joining Brookdale, she directed The Guardianship Project at the Vera Institute of Justice. Previously, she served as a White House Fellow with Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna E. Shalala. Earlier in her career, as a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society and recipient of a Skadden Arps Law Fellowship, Jean represented elderly and homebound New Yorkers in such areas as housing, health care, consumer law, and entitlements.

The New York State 2010 Elder Abuse Summit brought together major NYS elder abuse stakeholders to review and re-prioritize the NYS Elder Abuse Action Agenda that was developed at the ’04 Summit. The Summit also coincided with the release of the findings of the NYS Elder Abuse Prevalence Study. Ken and Jean gave the membership a report from the summit.

The NYS Elder Abuse Action Agenda was created by dividing the summit participants -- stakeholders from different disciplines -- into six working groups, each of which issued a recommendation.

The prevalence study looked at reported cases and unreported cases (gathered through a phone survey). Ratio of reported to unreported cases was found to be 1:24. Most common type of abuse overall was financial. Most common documented type of abuse was emotional.

Jean also spoke about the MDT (Multidisciplinary team) meetings, in which representatives of the different professions and/or agencies involved in some aspect of handling elder abuse cases meet together to discuss cases that are presented to them and make recommendations on what steps to take. Participants might include a social worker, the police department, the prosecutor’s office, a doctor or forensic psychiatrist. Anyone can bring a case to the MDT for help. To present a case, speak to the MDT coordinator for your borough.

Q & A:

Q: Are the results of the study available online?

A: The prevalence study will be coming out in March. Upcoming meetings of interest are:
Thursday, March 24, at Fordham University there will be a symposium on findings of the prevalence study. 8:30-1:30pm, free, pre-register.
June 22, the NYC Elder Abuse conference will be held. It’s low-cost and information will be available through ESCOTA as well as Ken’s listserve (contact him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to join).
October 20-23, the Adult Abuse Training Institute conference will be held in Buffalo. The National Adult Protective Services Organization will hold their conference around it.

Q: Does the action agenda include educating elders in recognizing and preventing fraud?

A: Yes – initiatives included educational programs statewide and also enacting new legislation.

Q: Please explain more about the MDT’s -- how often do they meet, who can present a case, and so forth.

A: Generally a coordinator gets calls/referrals from people with cases they’d like to present. The coordinator vets them to see if she can assist directly. If not, the case is presented – the presenter fills out a form like an intake form prior to presenting it. There’s no other requirement, no particular source it needs to come from. APS workers often present. The Manhattan MDT meets monthly, the Brooklyn MDT meets weekly considering 1-2 new cases and 1-2 followups each time.

Q: What is the phone number for Robin Roberts, the Manhattan coordinator?

A: 718-722-4939, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Q: Did anything come out of the Chinatown elder abuse meeting a few years ago?

A: In Chinatown in 2009 a big elder abuse conference was held for the Chinese group. The funding came out of a national grant, and Ken and Jean were not familiar with the outcome.

Q: In working groups, any consideration of the government as source of abuse?

A: The argument wasn’t represented at this summit.

Q: How do you figure out who the other players involved in any given case are?

A: In the MDT meetings, members often ask, “have you talked to so-and-so agency? Here’s their phone #.” So contacts can be made that way. The coordinator should consolidate the information given by the MDT into an action plan/to-do list to give to the person presenting the case and also follow up with team members who offered to do things for the presenter. A common topic is: I have a client, she’s clearly being abused but she doesn’t want to report it. What do I do?

Q: Are definitions of abuse pretty universal?

A: No. “Documented cases” in the prevalence study were cases in which a professional declared there was abuse. In the phone survey to collect undocumented cases there were questions that would allow the people gathering the data to determine there was abuse present. A basic problem is that there isn’t one definition of elder abuse. For instance, the age cutoff varies from 55 to 65. The definition sometimes depends on there being a crime or a police report filed. Elder abuse per se isn’t a crime in New York State – crimes are abuse, theft, etc.

Q: Can anyone come to MDT meetings?

A: Yes, anyone can bring a case.

Q: There’s mandatory reporting of child abuse. Has an elder abuse corollary come up?

A: Yes, it’s been discussed. Results of mandatory report laws really vary, as do the laws themselves – for instance, who’s required to report. What tends to happen in states with these laws is that initially there’s a spike in reports, then they return to the same level as before the law.

Q: Where there’s financial abuse and the victim is willing to report, how effective is the prosecution?

A: It’s entirely inadequate. Even with good evidence it can be very frustrating. In different boroughs there are different methods of prosecution. DA’s have a lot of power and could really change how elder abuse is handled. Cy Vance will be giving it more attention.

Q: What about abuse by guardians?

A: Every year we have two or three big cases that get a lot of attention and then it goes away again. There’s oversight but when oversight fails it can happen.

Q: How do funding cuts affect these activities?

A: Tomorrow, Friday, March 12, at 1pm there will be a protest at City Hall against the closing of 110 senior centers. Every six months we go through the cycle of wondering if our funding will continue. This cyclical uncertainty means we lose our market because people don’t know if we’re going to be there to return their phone call, and we spend too much energy wondering ourselves if our jobs will continue. Advocacy to keep funding takes time that could be spent helping clients. Cuts of other programs are likely to affect elder abuse services because too many programs are interlinked.

For more information, go to the CSCS website. Director Bobbie Sackman sends out regular email alerts on senior issues, and you can sign up to receive them on the website.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:00pm.

Next Meeting:

Date: Thursday, April 14, 2011, 3:00pm
Location: New York Presbyterian Hospital – Weill Cornell, Starr Pavilion, F- 639 Conference Room
Presentation: The Role of Physical and Occupational Therapy in the Care of Stroke Patients
Speaker: Lindsay Berman and Jennifer Miller

Respectfully submitted by Jae Gruenke, Co-Secretary

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