The Jefferson Area Board for Aging (JABA) and the Greene County TRIAD are teaming up to put a stop to elder abuse.
The groups have been hosting a series of workshops identifying ways senior citizens are often taken advantage of, but more importantly how to prevent it.
"It's important to them because this is their life," said Sandra Davis, manager of the JABA Greene County Community Center. "They've lived a long life and stuff like this occurs. They need to be aware."
JABA says the issue is both physical and financial with many seniors being taken advantage of by their own loved ones.
"Most of the time it's a family member that commits the abuse, " said Beverly Heroy, president of the Greene County TRIAD - a law enforcement agency.
Heroy says at a meeting last month, a man explained how his daughter was abusing him financially.
"The daughter was getting all of his money and she was using it for her own obligations and she was letting her dad's go, said Heroy.
Claire Curry is an attorney with the Legal Aid Justice Center in Charlottesville who has been working with the federal government to fight elder abuse in another type of home - nursing homes.
Curry says too often staff members are drugging patients with antipsychotic drugs to keep them quiet.
"In Virginia nursing homes, less than 5 percent of the residents have the diagnosis of schizophrenia and the other severe mental illnesses that these drugs were meant for," said Curry.
She says it's not necessarily because staff members are trying to be mean, but because they lack the proper skills to care for patients that need special attention.
As of Thursday, people can go online and see how often nursing homes are using these types of drugs to subdue patients.
Deputy Michael Martin with the Greene County Sheriff's Office says it will take a community effort to keep seniors safe and advises for relatives to keep a close eye on elderly family members' physical and emotional state.
JABA and TRIAD will host workshops every third Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. at the JABA Greene County Community Center at 222 Main Street in Stanardsville.
Click here for the Nursing Home Compare resource.
