A two-day conference beginning Monday will bring professionals together to talk about the growing problem of elder abuse. Shirley Taylor in Iowa’s department of Elder Affairs says workshops will aim information at those who work with the elderly. It’s for social workers, law-enforcement, caregivers, financial workers, lawyers and community change agencies. Matters will be as serious as violence and healthcare problems of the elderly, and as simple as counseling people who hoard possessions and live with too much clutter. Taylor says the people attending the conference take them all seriously, like Tuesday’s keynote speech on how consumer fraud affects the elderly. She says it’s a copmplex topic and is more than just a “property crime.” She says fraud affects a victim in many ways, affecting their health, diminishing their dignity and making it hard to get a report because they’re embarrassed and ashamed. Finding fair market value for the home of a person who considers selling, driving safely, and physical abuse by caretakers are other topics of the two-day Elder Rights Conference Monday and Tuesday at the Hotel Fort Des Moines.
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