pleasure. sunday evening at 6 pm on 101.3. this week, on point exposing elder abuse. the dark side of caregiving. elder abuse is a rapidly growing national and international problems -- problem including sexual abuse, exploitation. the department of justice estimates that one in 10 people over 60 is a victim. one in 10 people! that is almost 6,000,000 cases a year. sadly, the majority is from family members as well as staff at nursing homes, assisted living and other facilities. a couple of recent south carolina cases make the point. her son david charged in the death of an 82-year-old after

six months. in the midlands, the 59-year- old caregiver is said to be caught on surveillance abusing the incapacitated 91-year-old in her care but what we do know is something has to be done and we're looking at the issue of elder abuse. the dark side of caregiving and this is one of those topics that we really don't look forward to covering because it really has a very sad tone. >> they happen. and none of us want to think about this but at some point, some of us will need some type of care. people in our family, older relatives have been in the care of others. and you want to make sure they are being treated like they should be.>> i am glad that the doctor is able to be with us today. and the reason i am glad that you are, this is one of those topics very difficult to talk

you kind of emotion yourself in it every day. you're at the school of public health and this is something that you do not just deal with from a research standpoint. you are actually out there looking at cases and i guess, it is really something that a lot of people don't like to talk about that we must deal with it. >> you mentioned the statistics. the 6 million cases you mentioned, there are actually thousands if not millions more due to the underreporting of elder abuse. we have to consider the elders -- they are part of the silent generation and they don't report abuse as much as they should and typically relate that to fear. you mentioned family members. the national center on elder

cases are at the hands of family members. the most common type of abuse is financial exploitation. we look at tho numbers. not only does elder abuse affect those numbers but it also affects the service delivery system. me being a social worker and daryn colledge is, if i know someone is being abused, i cannot leave them in that situation. and d w, that person runs the risk of being displaced from their home, from their family and from their loved ones. and you mentioned replacements. that is one of the replacements where we tend to house individuals while the investigation is going on. they be short-term. a.b. long-term. and also, assisted living. so when we look at the consequence of abuse, we have to look at emotional. they tend to not do well. increasing rates of depression. depression can be treated and it can affect the medical system.

elder abuse in a vacuum but it has a snowball effect. it affects the service delivery system and it can increase health cost. >> one thing that brenda does is work with the guardian ad litem program so that when the state finds those individuals, they may be so vertebral and may be abused by family members and their surroundings. the state has to take over those situations and may have cases like that in south carolina. >> i know it has to be hard to deal with situations like that. that is what these programs are for. >> what we do is recruit and train volunteers across the state. they represent the best interest of vulnerable adults taken into custody because they have been abused or neglected or exploded. >> like i keep saying, it is hard to talk about but it is hard to fathom. you see it.

you.>> you say, we get to do something about it so it is very meaningful for us and for our volunteers.>> absolutely. being a social worker and having your heart into it, when we look at those caregivers whether they are professional or nonprofessional, they do not have the passion to care for someone else. the quality of care that they provide is going to be affected here we look at some of these statistics and they show that individuals elders with dementia are at higher risk for elder abuse and because of their challenging nature. and those challenging behaviors that they display and caregivers are not willing to deal with those. so they might use medication to control those behaviors but if you don't understand the trajectory of the disease and how it impairs a person's ability to think properly and make the

so when you are using medications to sedate, it may put that person in further injury and land them in the hospital. >> understanding the whole myriad of issues that impact the elderly people is very important when you're working with them. i was just thinking, they are vulnerable just by virtue of age and just by virtue that their bodies are weaker than they had been in the past. so you have to incorporate all of that talk about taking care of them and keeping them free from harm. >> we're going to go to break. i do want us to look at a growing number of elders in our state. our state has about 4 1/2 million people. we have close to 1 million people who are 60 and over and we will talk when we come back about changes on the horizon for

stay tuned. from the wach fox studio, this is on point with cynthia harding. >> we are back in. elder abuse and it is the dark side of caregiving. we have had a couple of incidents in our state where it has been brought to our attention that it is a very vulnerable population. it is prone to be preyed upon by people who don't have the most honorable intentions. >> as we heard in the first segment, some of these cases are not reported. there may be more incidents of this coming up. i have a question in my mind about this. are there certain health conditions that are more difficult for a caregiver to understand and deal with that could lead to something bad happening?

of our aging population, approximately 1000 americans every day. with dementia on the rise, that is one of the conditions because there is no change in the trajectory of the disease and signs and symptoms may lead to challenges. caregivers don't understand how to manage those behaviors and they tend to go to medication first. there are a lot of nonpharmacological strategies that can be tried such as the way you communicate. and because they do not know, they simply give up. >> i see that. and it is important for caregivers to know about the resources that are out there to help them. we do have cases. but they get to the gate -- they get to the point where they cannot do it anymore. the person has dementia and

they might drop them off at the hospital and say i'm not going to pick them up and the person gets taken into custody. once we get involved, we can work with the family. sometimes, we are able to pick up -- set of resources and help the person get back to the family.>> do you see those numbers increasing? >> i have seen several cases like that lately. >> i guess i'm wondering, there is a population of foster care children. it is a vulnerable population. there is a certain population of elderly people that are like that. and that is something that has escaped me until doing the research for this story and i think that a number of times, people don't realize that. >> and there are residential facilities for individuals. there are -- they are adults so they have the capacity to make

and support teams available for them. but in that, we have to educate the folks that we invest our most vulnerable populations too. we talked about staff and nursing home -- nursing homes. we have to give them the effective tools they need to provide quality care. without that, the quality of care will be at risk and it will increase the rate whether intentional or unintentional. we all have a responsibility. >> let's just say i am a person who has an older relative, a parent, a grandmother that i am caring for and i am the responsible one. what are some of the resources available to the common person about things they need to know about how to more effectively cope with situations. >> we talk about our elderly population. we have the lieutenant

area agencies on aging throughout the state of south carolina and everything aging. the community launch -- lawncare waiver. the disabilities and special needs also have various waivers. there is the healthy connections prime program that is the coordinated care entity that pulls together all medicaid and medicare resources for someone who is 65 years or older. healthy connececons prime. they have one professional there. >> under health and human services. >> and that one person facilitates all of the services for that member so that the person and their family will not have to navigate the health care system which can be very convoluted at times so you have that one professional that is well-versed pulling together all of those resources. >> that is good because a lot of times, we don't know where to go. and starting right there with

>> i think that is a good place to start. >> we will go to break and come back with a longer segment to wrap up with. we want you to think about things and we will leave the audience with the biggest thing. we need to tell people how to report. >> i also want to talk about situations i have seen where i know people are financially taking advantage of older people and we have to talk about that and tell you what to look for. we're talking elder abuse, the dark side of caregiving and we are getting answers with brenda. tell me your last name.

right back. this is on point with cynthia harding. welcome back. the dark side of caregiving. brian and i have been sitting

to bring death. -- and to brenda. this is our last segment that we are devoting to this topic that it is so important and we want to make sure we get a lot of things in. brenda won't let us start the segment unless we talk about volunteers. >> we are a statewide program and we recruited volunteers across the state. next friday, february 5 and friday, we have training coming up so if anyone is interested, they can call me. my number is 803-445-5953. and we would love to have them. we work very closely with our volunteers. they represent the best interest of vulnerable adults and we're right there with the volunteers. if you are afraid of court or anything like that, don't be afraid. we will take care of that. >> if i were to volunteer, it would involve me representing

in situations that maybe they cannot represent themselves. >> we represent their best interest. we also appoint an attorney to represent what they want. always considering and trying to get them what they want as much is possible. >> tell meme in average person that is usually well-suited for that. do i have to be a lawyer?>> typically, we choose social workers but we have really opened it up to anyone who cares or has a passion for vulnerable adults. i think you can do it. you have to have time to go to court so we have a lot of volunteers who are retired or have less ability so that they can be there for court hearings.>> i asked the doctor when we were in the break about people taking financial advantage of older people. sometimes, you have to make a decision about whether or not you can or cannot continue to care for someone that maybe has

there is some financial value attached and if they go to a facility, the money generally follows them. so i sometimes see people opting to keep the older relative in the home and not necessarily because i love you so much but because they are attached to the money. do you see that? >> we see that a lot and we tend to see it with family members very adamant about removing their loved one from a facility even though that loved one is perfectly fine. they are happy. and all of a sudden, this particular family member comes in and is very adamant about taking mom home. you have to look at that person's financial stability. when you are social worker and you are managing the care of a vulnerable population, you have the responsibility to assess the full situation. when there are's -- when there are changes in that person's bank account and financial

they have always had, something is wrong.>> the caregiver is looking for money somewhere. >> absolutely. you always have to look at why that person is so eager. what is the benefit? you have to do a full assessment. a lot of times, we ask questions. that you have to take the time to ask those very tough questions. if not, our adults will leave a facility and go back into the arms of harm. >> and oftentimes, i am thinking people may not mean to do harm that sometimes in action, leading to harmful situations. if someone cannot walk and you insist on having them there but you don't have the proper set up in the home or mobility or things like that, it will be very tough.>> that's a very good point that you make. whenever someone is discharged from a facility, we have due

do an assessment. to determine this person can in fact take care of this person and if they cannot, you have to look for other resourceses and other support systems because that will not be due diligence for that person to go home.>> and in some of the situations we have seen recently where we have seen neglect as a result. you wonder if they were equipped to handle whatat they were trying to do in the first place. >> absolutely. i am a big proponent of education. if you don't have the foundational knowledge to provide quality care, it is not going to work. at the office, we have something called dementia dialogue. it is designed to provide education for family members or caregivers working with dementia and it is free and supported by the south carolina department of health and humum servicic.

don't think education. a lot of times, they feel like they cannot afford or do not qualify for resources that we have to try. you cannot wait for the information to come to give. you have to go out and get it because weo have skilled people and programs available to provide staff and caregivers. >> what about children? kids who are looking at their aging family members and wondering, will there be time down the road when i wanted to do something. what would you say to a person who may be sitting there thinking that. >> that i'm going to have to take care of my parents down the road. i would say via contact, if there is dementia, the alzheimer's association. see if you can try to put together a plan where you can take care of the person at home. is it feasible. >> or living independent.

place. if you do end up needing a facility, there are resources out there where you can look for protection efficacies. the hack has resources. -- they had resources. we thank you both for being with us. what is your website. >> it is very, very long. office for the study of aging or google dementia dialogue and the link will come up for us. >> thank you so much. >> thank you so much. when we come back, we're going to take a look at this upcoming event that we have been telling people about. it's a like history month program.

festival. from the wach fox studios, this is on point with cynthia harding. welcome back. we are switching gears now. we are going to talk about the statewide black history month parade and festival. and we are delighted to have oh beta with us. one of he things i want our audience to know is that you have been successful in getting your very good friend here. >> and this is february 6. >> okay. >> angie stone is going to be the grand marshall for the parade. that is a big deal. and i am saying it over and over because, you are doing extremely well right now. >> extremely well. >> one of the things i had the opportunity to interview her and she said to me the other

interview, thank you so much. and she wants to be able to use her celebrity to the extent that she can to help south carolina heal. so when she gets requests like this or when she is here, she is going to be in the parade but she will have a few other events. >> and we will be glad to have her. what she says is so true. helping people come together after difficult times. >> i do want us to talk a little bit about some controversy going on. recently, stacy was an actress. she talked about the fact that people were complaining about the oscars and african- americans being nominated or not work her point was a very strong one and that is that we have to decide. do we want to be americans or do we want to be african- americans and we continue to separate ourselves. and sometimes, there are

so that applies in the face of what you are doing. your point is that black history month is about pride for black americans. so it is not about separation but more about pride. >> i truly believe that we are all, as a human race, need to know each other. and in order for us to do that, we have to be taught and who better knows yourself and yourself to teach someone else. that is just like learning about the native americans. learning about the italians. they have to teach us what they are all about so we have to teach the african-americans regardless of what it is called. whatever it is called. we need to teach it because it is our story. >> in the parade, you will be telling the story. talked to brian about how the parade tells the story.

where you are putting a lot of emphasis on as many people coming out as possible. and you are hoping that a number of our friends will come . >> as usual, in the past, they have been there. and they have taken in and moved with it. but we all have to. african-americans have to learn the history, as well. so with that being said, what we are doing is depicting someone of african american history entity into the parade. they will distribute that information to the public. so that they can walk away with some history. and tell somebody else about it or show somebody else. during the event, the festival part of the, we will be doing some storytelling. i will be able to tell my story as a child with the immigration period during that time. we will have the story about this era family.

to come. >> we want to give the people the who, what, when, where and how. >> the parade starts exactly at 12 o'clock and it will be on high street. and then the festival will be inside the gym. we will have food vendors, merchant vendors, information. starring joshua rogers and concert for that day. so we're really excited about all of the entities that will be involved with the event. >> thank you to the city of columbia. they have really gotten behind it. they want to help you make a success of it.>> everybody needs to come.>> everybody. that is it for this edition. brian and i really appreciate

remember, when you are informed, you are empowered.

we will see you next week. i'm chris wallace, the candidates make their fifil pitch. the day that two gop frontrunners, donald trump and ted cruz. you get 30 seconds to respond to me.

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