On Tuesday, February 19, 2008
U.S. Senator Charles Schumer
held a press conference at the Vera House Administrative Offices
advocating passage of the
Elder Justice Act
"to give local law enforcement authorities
the resources they need to protect
Central New York seniors."
 

"The scourge of
elder abuse has been swept under the rug
far too long . . . .
The Elder Justice Act
shines a much needed light
on elder abuse across the Central New York area."

The Elder Justice Act
bipartisan legislation co-sponsored by Schumer would establish the resources to
prevent, detect, treat and prosecute elder abuse, neglect and exploitation.

Click here to read the full text
of Senator Schumer's:

 
Elder Abuse facts . . .

◊ An estimated five million older adults nationwide are victimized by abuse and neglect every year.

◊ There were 2,000 cases of elder abuse reported
in Central New York in 2007 alone.

◊ Nearly 90% of reported elder abuse incidents
occur in domestic settings.

◊ For every one reported case of elder abuse, neglect
or exploitation, about five more go unreported.
 

Members of Sen. Schumer's staff join him at the
Feb. 19 press conference,
along with Assemblywoman Joan Christensen (far left),
Vera House Exec. Director
Randi Bregman (center) and
Margaret Waters (far right).

 
At the press conference, Margaret Waters
courageously shared her mother's powerful story & the
tragic impact of elder abuse on her family's life . . .
 

"Senator Schumer, Honorable Guests, Members of the Press and Vera House Staff: I received an email from my daughter, who is a therapist at Vera House. She told me of the press conference and mentioned that they were interested in hearing from a family impacted by elder abuse. I'm here today because I wanted to tell you about my mother, Margaret Dowdle.

She was born in 1914 and married at 35, had three children in quick succession. I am the youngest. Active all her life she was blessed with good health, even swimming daily at the YMCA and ice skating at the public rink.

Everything changed in 1989 when she had her first stroke. Although recovery from that was good she had some short term memory deficits. My Dad was her primary caregiver and took good care of her and the rest of the family filled in whenever needed. The stress took its toll and my Dad died in 1992 from a massive coronary.

We didn’t take the advice of the neurologist to put my Mom in a home but continued to care for her at home. She began to have hallucinations and it was apparent she would have to come live with me.  My family was loving and welcoming and we kept her with us until it wasn’t safe anymore. She couldn’t do stairs and I couldn’t get her in on and out of the tub myself.

Margaret Dowdle
in happier days

Reluctantly she went to a nursing home. Little by little she lost the ability to walk, to speak and was confined to a wheelchair. She lost 30 pounds and I’ve lost count of the number of complaints we had about her care ranging from being left in wet clothes, dirty, handled roughly and disrespected. She often had bruises that they explained away. Both my brother and I visited her daily but even that constant attention didn’t protect her.

On August 6, 2002, at 9AM, I received a call from the social worker that my Mom had a bump on her head that was discovered the previous night. I went over and found that she had a huge hematoma on the right half of her forehead with bruising down into the temple area. I immediately questioned the staff and no one would tell me anything about it. I called my brother and we started looking for another place to take her. All I could think of was that she wasn’t safe there. In the meantime, I called the state hotline and reported it to the NYS Department of Health and the Director of Nursing also reported it because as she put it, 'the stories didn’t wash'. The Aide in charge of my mother’s care was fired.

The rest of the story is a jumble of denials, lies and cover-ups. When we couldn’t find another facility we insisted that my Mom be taken to the hospital. She had a raging urinary tract infection, head trauma and she was so dehydrated that she had seizures. My Mom died at the hospital on August 28, about three weeks after the assault.

Margaret after the abuse incident

After a local investigation by the Health Dept. the information was sent to the NY City Office of the Attorney General. No further action was taken as they felt they couldn’t prove that she was injured deliberately. The Aide in question was charged with filing a false affidavit because she changed her statement three times. There was nothing put in place to prevent this Aide from working for another agency or unsuspecting family. I am so sad to think that she is still out there, possibly hurting another helpless person.

For my family it was over. I couldn’t do any more. Next time I would handle it differently. I would immediately report it to the local police agency. An outside agency would have no stake in the outcome of the investigation.

The Elder Justice Act would make sure that long term care workers would receive training to improve their skills. They would have to undergo a background check to weed out the criminal and the prosecution of those guilty of abuse and neglect would be streamlined.

This experience was tremendously painful for me and my family. It is my hope that something good would come from telling this story and that another family will be spared the heartache that my family endured. Please support the Elder Justice Act in my mother’s memory and for those whose stories are unknown and untold. Thank you."

Vera House applauds Margaret Waters for sharing this difficult story with the community. Please join us in encouraging passage of the Elder Justice Act.