Southern California Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog
If you live in Southern California and are interested in learning more about nursing home abuse and elder mistreatment, there are some exciting new programs being offered at the University of Southern California (USC), according to a news release from the American Society on Aging (ASA). Specifically, the ASA is partnering with USC’s Leonard Davis School of Gerontology to offer five-week online courses to members of the American Society on Aging. You can take advantage of these educational courses from the comfort of your own home or office. The courses are designed for professionals who work in the field of aging, but they can also be extremely helpful to San Diego County residents who have loved ones in local nursing homes and want to learn more about how they can prevent abuse in their professional and personal lives.
Importance of Bringing Awareness to Elder Mistreatment in California
Why are these elder mistreatment classes so important? According to Zach Gassoumis, a Ph.D. Research Assistant Professor a the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at USC, we need to do more to get the issue of elder abuse out into the open and to make people aware of the problem. He explains, “elder mistreatment has been recognized as a largely hidden public health problem that affects over one in ten older adults each year, or roughly seven million people aged 60 and older in the U.S.” Gassoumis goes on to explains that “recent research suggests that this number is even higher in other parts of the world,” and “it is estimated that globally, 141 million older adults experience mistreatment by others.”
Who are the people responsible for committing elder abuse? They can range from family members who function as caregivers for seniors living at home to staff members at nursing homes and assisted-living facilities in San Diego County who are trained to provide care for elderly patients. The courses aim not only to raise awareness about the largely unseen problem of elder mistreatment, but also to provide anyone working in fields with seniors to learn more about preventing nursing home abuse and other forms of mistreatment before they occur. The courses allow participants to earn a certificate of completion.
Details of the ASA Course Offerings
Given the dual aims of the ASA and USC joint course offerings—to raise awareness about elder mistreatment and to provide people with the tools for preventing it—the two different course offerings attend to these specific goals. The first course is entitled, “Elder Mistreatment: Understanding Abuse and Neglect.” It is a five-week course through which participants can learn more about recognizing elder abuse when it happens, identifying common characteristics among those who commit elder abuse and neglect, and discovering other individual factors that can contribute to situations of elder mistreatment. These courses run from January 23 through February 24, and again from August 28 through September 29.
A second course offering is entitled, “Elder Mistreatment: Prevention of Abuse and Neglect.” Just as it sounds, this course focuses on prevention tools. The first class will run online from April 17 through May 19, and again from August 28 through September 29.
These courses are available only to ASA members, but if you are not currently a member, you can join after you register for one of the courses.
Contact an Escondido Nursing Home Abuse Attorney
In the meantime, if you have questions about filing an elder mistreatment claim, an experienced Escondido nursing home abuse attorney can assist you. Contact the Walton Law Firm today for more information.
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Expansion to California’s Elder and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act
