Elder abuse awareness
- Title
- Elder abuse awareness
Today on World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, Insignia Financial is proud to be working through its charitable foundation, the IOOF Foundation, with Dementia Australia to highlight this important issue.Elder abuse is any act, including lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust which causes harm or distress to an older person. Elder abuse can take various forms such as physical, psychological or emotional, sexual and financial abuse. It can also be the result of intentional or unintentional neglect.
The Australian Institute of Family Studies* estimates that 1 in 6 older Australians are experiencing some form of abuse, including 11.7% experience some form of psychological abuse and 2.1% experiencing financial abuse. Sadly, these statistics are based on reported cases. The unreported cases are estimated to be much higher.
Elder abuse is a serious issue that impacts the wellbeing of a large number of older Australians, especially those who are living with dementia.
Watch ‘Patty’s’ case to understand what elder abuse can look like
Our partnership with Dementia Australia
While financial elder abuse does not only impact the financial sector, we are working closely with Dementia Australia to educate our people and the broader industry to recognise potential signs of abuse, and ways to handle it.
Our charitable foundation has committed to a $300,000 partnership with Dementia Australia over two years to increase awareness of financial elder abuse for those most vulnerable in our community. This partnership allowed for the release of a new ‘Ask Annie’ mobile app module to all care workers at no cost.