New elder abuse prevention funding being examined

Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) is examining whether newly-released provincial funding to battle elder abuse can be utilized here.

The Alberta government is providing $750,000 over two years to the Albert Elder Abuse Awareness Council to provide one-time funding to the province's eligible coordinated community responses (CCR) to elder abuse.

CCRs are multidisciplinary partnerships that can include a range of partners such as local governments, nonprofit organizations, businesses, health service providers, and police services.

The funding would assist with improving seniors’ access to help to navigate available supports, explore best practices for data collection, increase regional collaboration between CCRs, and ensure the sustainability of CCR programs and services. 

It will also enable the council to provide enhanced elder abuse awareness training for service providers and responders.

About four years ago, funding was provided to help develop a ground-breaking program here. It lead to the creation of the Community-Led Elder Abuse Response (CLEAR).

That was followed by a 2018 grant for a casual elder abuse worker, but since then no further funding has been available, and the position ended in 2019.

"It is very exciting that they are putting grant dollars towards elder abuse again," says FCSS director Kim Krawac.

Krawac says they are currently exploring the grant opportunity to determine eligibility and the best organization to apply for the funding on behalf of the community.

Alberta Seniors and Housing minister Josephine Pon says additional work on elder abuse is underway.

This year, the province will work with stakeholders and the public to establish a consistent definition of elder abuse, explore more formalized data collection and information-sharing practices, and improve coordination across programs and services. Consideration is also being given to the potential role of provincial elder abuse legislation.

To find out what resources are available in Cochrane for those subjected to elder abuse, go here.