Older adults lacking the help they need

The recent death of a 79-year-old Skokie woman in a home so filled with trash that rescuers had to remove her body through a hole in the roof is an example of self-neglect. It is also an example of Illinois recognizing a problem, enacting enlightened legislation to address it, but failing to provide the resources necessary to get it off the ground.

Those of us who provide services to older adults successfully advocated expansion of the existing Elder Abuse and Neglect Act which technically went into effect on Jan. 1, 2007. Yet it required state funding before the legislation could take effect. The Skokie woman, now a news story, could have been assisted if it had been funded.

Without state funding, reports of self-neglect are intermittent, there is no public information to explain that there are competent people trained to work on cases to improve individuals' situations, and the mandates for reporting these dangerous situations have never gone into effect.

In suburban Cook County, community agencies working with AgeOptions and the Illinois Department on Aging are experienced and prepared to work with elder abuse, neglect and financial exploitation cases. In a four-month period, 431 cases of elder abuse (not self-neglect) were reported with 178 substantiated. Those cases of domestic violence were all skillfully investigated and most resolved by the program. None of these has been reimbursed by the state.

There is a commanding reason Illinois must obtain the resources to respond to citizens' needs. Further cuts to the state budget and further lagging of reimbursements are all statements that self-neglected, abused and exploited older persons are acceptable "collateral damage" to the Illinois budget situation.

Jonathan Lavin

President and CEO

AgeOptions, the Area Agency on Aging of suburban Cook County