Muskingum County Commissioners Proclaim June As Elder Abuse Awareness Month
ZANESVILLE, Ohio – Each Month the Muskingum County Commissioners support local organizations by recognizing and promoting the various themes the agencies are advocating for.
This month is World Elder Abuse Awareness Month and Muskingum County Adult and Child Protective Services Supervisor Patrick Donavan explained why the courthouse will be lit purple during the month of June.
“World Elder Abuse Awareness Month was actually launched June 15, 2006 by the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and the World Health Organization at the United Nations. It’s not just in Muskingum County. This is one of those few events where it’s actually worldwide. So it’s not a phenomenon that’s exclusive to Zanesville or Muskingum County. This is something that happens all over the world,” Donavan said.
Elder abuse can take on many forms such as Abuse, neglect and exploitation. Red flags could range from bruises and injuries to depression and poor living conditions.
“In Muskingum County there’s about 86,000 people. What that relates to as far as elder abuse, we received over 500 reports, last year alone. Actually 524 reports, so that’s a lot. So we’re seeing a lot of abuse, neglect, but exploitation has really been increasing. We see that from a lot of the scams that you hear about. But unfortunately there’s a lot of family members that exploit their parents or relatives or sometimes neighbors,” Donavan said.
If you see or suspect abuse, the Muskingum County Adult and Child Protective Services investigates all the discretionary reports they receive and can be contacted by calling (740) 455-6710.
