Ontario Marks World Elder Abuse Awareness Day
Working Together to Create Caring Communities to Protect Ontario’s Seniors
The Voice of Canada News:
Raymond Cho, Minister for Seniors and Accessibility, issued the following statement to mark World Elder Abuse Awareness Day:
“As we pause to observe World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, I encourage everyone to reflect on what we can do together to protect Ontario’s seniors from physical and emotional abuse. The health, safety and well-being of Ontario’s seniors is of the utmost importance to our government, especially during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Our seniors are highly susceptible to this deadly virus and we are doing everything we can to protect them and ensure they get the support they need while self-isolating. This includes: investing $11 million to implement the Ontario Community Support Program to help fund the deliveries of meals, medicine, and other necessities to seniors and people with disabilities in need, a pandemic partnership with SparkOntario to match volunteers with seniors who need help in communities across the province, and providing guidance and supports on how to reduce social isolation and conduct wellness check-ins for seniors.
In order to eradicate elder abuse, seniors and their loved ones can take comfort in knowing that our government is investing in prevention programs. We are providing support through public education for our youth and training for frontline staff to help recognize the signs of, and raise awareness about, the prevalence of elder abuse.
The government is partnering with Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario to offer remote and virtual training, as well as community outreach. It is incumbent on all of us to support and protect older Ontarians so they can enjoy good health and stay active in their communities.
We are also funding coordinated community resources to support seniors who are in need by investing in the province-wide Seniors Safety Line: a 24/7, confidential and free resource in over 200 languages which offers safety planning and counselling to older adults experiencing abuse, or those at-risk of abuse, and educating seniors about changes to Power of Attorney and other legal and financial matters to lower the risk of domestic or financial abuse.
Together, we can create a network of caring and connected communities that keep seniors safe across our great province. Together, we can ensure that older Ontarians receive the respect, and support, they deserve.”
