Elder Safety

Scams can affect anyone, but older citizens throughout the country are particularly at risk of being victims of financial fraud.  A new report out of Los Angeles details some tips from Consumer Reports which can be followed by persons looking to prevent financial elder abuse.  For one thing, an effort should be made to set… read more

Bed rails in nursing homes have reportedly led to 150 fatalities between 2003 and May of this year, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.  Most of these result from older patients, many of whom might suffer from dementia or Alzheimer’s, apparently becoming confused and getting trapped between the rail and the mattress.  36,000 incidents… read more

The Community Emergency Response Team has been mobilized in Cohasset, Massachusetts in order to help those persons who have been negatively impacted by Hurricane Sandy.  Volunteers with the group were out on Monday in a bid to get in touch with select persons in the community to make sure they had the essentials that would… read more

The holidays are coming up fast, and no doubt people across the county are making preparations for their travels.  There are dangers inherent with long distance travels, but even those trips that take you only a couple miles away can be hazardous if the weather is bad or visibility is poor.  To help ensure that… read more

As drivers age, their ability to drive safely might begin to wane. While generally older drivers take greater caution on the road than younger drivers, accidents involving elderly drivers have still occurred, some of them resulting in serious injuries not just to the driver but to others as well. This has caused the Automobile Association… read more

11 people, nine of them kids, were hit by a car in Los Angeles on Wednesday.  A 100 year old man was in the driver’s seat of a Cadillac when the vehicle slowly backed into a crowd positioned outside a school, sending four kids to the hospital in critical condition.  They have since been stabilized…. read more

In both the United States and Great Britain, officials have placed an increased emphasis on stringent licensing requirements that must be met in order for an elderly person to obtain a driver’s license.  Many people are under the impression that driving ability is likely to suffer as an individual gets older and faces deterioration of… read more

I recently reported about the danger of children having their identities stolen.  But kids are not the only at-risk demographic.  People who are older than 50 are also being increasingly targeted by scammers, with 3.5 million households with people in this age range having faced some form of identity theft, according to the Bureau of… read more

One state is taking steps to spread awareness about the serious problem of elder abuse across the country. The governor of Pennsylvania has declared today as Elder Abuse Awareness Day across the entire state.  To mark the occasion, the Pennsylvania Department of Aging is working hard to inform the state’s citizens about the numerous ways… read more

A lot of attention gets paid to physical abuse of the elderly, a widespread problem that needs immediate attention, but it’s important to note that physical abuse isn’t the only type of abuse there is. A new report discusses the rampant financial abuse that the elderly are experiencing across the country.  According to a study… read more

A potential drug shortage may cause some people to not be able to get the drug they want, and force them to settle on a generic version. According to the Food and Drug Administration, vials of a drug known as Boniva are in short supply.  The shortage affects the injectable version of the drug, which… read more

Federal authorities are trying to cut back on the number of antipsychotic medications that persons living in nursing homes receive. In 2008, the Food and Drug Administration began telling doctors that elderly persons with dementia who are treated by such means find themselves at a greater risk of experiencing a fatality.  Therefore, antipsychotic medications were… read more