United message to denounce elder abuse
Twelve months ago, the NSW Retirement Village Residents Association (RVRA) released the report, Ageing Without Fear.
The report shared the findings of a survey that was completed by 1,259 residents in 120 NSW retirement villages.
The RVRA then partnered with the DCM Institute to host two webinars on the research results showing over 40% of residents had experienced some form of psychological elder abuse.
The RVRA/DCM Institute webinar with Dr Diane Hart, Vice President, Roger Pallant, Secretary. James Wiltshire, DCM Institute Executive Director, Craig Bennett, President, Roger Pallant, Secretary, and Tamara Rasmussen, Head of Resident Operations at Keyton.
The RVRA has subsequently held meetings with the NSW Ageing & Disability Commission and the Property Council of Australia’s Retirement Living Council in preparation of a joint response.
Roger (second left) with Daniel Gannon, Retirement Living Council Executive Director, Oliver Luckhurst-Smith, RLC’s National Policy Manager, Tony Massaro, Partner – KordaMentha Real Estate, and Tamara.
This week, to mark World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (tomorrow), the three bodies have released a joing Statement of Respect.
In releasing the statement this week, Roger Pallant, the NSW RVRA’s Secretary, said “the number of abuses reported we have had since the survey has reduced but we still get some cases.”
“We are considering running a follow-up survey in the latter half of the year. The reality is that resident-on-resident issues will always be there but hopefully we have given the “target” some strategies to deal with abuse issues,” Roger said.
The NSW RVRA has asked that all Village Managers print this Statement and place it in an an area within their community where it can be seen by all residents.
“This is something the DCM Institute is proud to continue supporting,” said James Wiltshire, Executive Director of the DCM Institute.
“We will be sharing this Statement with Village Managers through our communication channels, and within our Knowledge Centre.”
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