Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Inc. : Our Grants At Work

Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Elder Abuse Shelter

Visit: www.hebrewhome.org/abuserecovery.asp

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation made a continuation grant of $1,500,000 over 3 years to the Hebrew Home for the Aged at Riverdale New York for its Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Center for Elder Abuse Prevention, Intervention and Research (the Center). From its inception in January 2005 through January 2009 the Center helped over 400 victims of elder abuse directly at its Riverdale campus. For these individuals the Center provided over 6,000 emergency shelter days; Referrals were made to community and legal services for hundreds of other individuals. While the referrals come in waves based on public attention the Center gets roughly 10 calls per month, and roughly another 10 for hands on assistance in other environment.

By building upon the foundation of the Home’s full continuum of care and staff expertise, the Center has created a coordinated system of crisis intervention, residential and community based services as well as training and community awareness programs to ensure the availability of the necessary range of services for victims of elder abuse and neglect. Many victims of elder abuse who enter The Center shelter require an increased range of legal services including advocacy and representation for matters such as obtaining guardianships, orders of protection, divorce, banking and assistance with housing issues, benefits or to address consequences of financial abuse. These needs are compounded by the often limited cognitive and physical functioning of the Center clients.

Access to and information about the Center is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, through the Hebrew Home’s easily recognizable, professionally staffed, toll-free number (1-800-56-SENIOR). Direct services include an emergency residential shelter that is staffed with an attorney to provide civil legal advocacy and representation for obtaining guardianships, orders of protection, and divorce and on banking and housing issues, as well as a social worker and a nurse, trained to meet the complex emotional needs of elder abuse victims, to provide the substantial psychological support and counseling required. The Center’s guests receive all medical, rehabilitation and other health care services that they need and are encouraged to make full use of the Home’s social and recreational programs.

The Center has brought public attention to the existence of elder abuse in the community and has become an increasingly important national resource for information about this issue. For example Center representatives testified before the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging in 2007 in support of the Elder Justice Act now making its way through both Houses of Congress. To date more than 20 facilities in the US have committed to adapting the model, with at least two opening their doors within the last year including the Center for Elder Abuse Prevention at The Jewish Home for the Elderly in Fairfield, Conn.; EDDY, a Troy, N.Y. network of senior services; and sites in New Jersey, Rhode Island, the District of Columbia,