To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

This past week we heard a compelling account of abuse from a famous actor when Mickey Rooney told of abuse he suffered at the hands of family members.

Among those present to hear his account were representatives from Lifespan of Greater Rochester.

The vice president of programming at Lifespan Paul Caccamise joined YNN's Virginia Butler to discuss elder abuse.

Virginia: You have a new study that shows one in 13 older adults suffered some sort of elder abuse - and not a lot of that was reported by the victims was it?

Paul: No it wasn't. In fact what we learned was that only one in 24 cases was reported to authorities across NY State in the one year period that we studied.

Virginia: Of this abuse, was this physical abuse, financial exploitation; is there one that's more common?

Paul: The results included all forms of elder abuse, which can include physical abuse, financial exploitation, neglect, emotional or psychological abuse, and even sexual abuse. But by far the most prominent form of elder abuse was financial exploitation.

Virginia: That would be taking over power of attorney and taking over an estate, stealing, and things like that?

Paul: It can include outright theft of assets or influencing a person to handle her assets and property, deception, taking someone to a bank and influencing them to withdraw money using a person's resources for other than their own use.

Virginia: What would you like to see happen in the wake of this study?

Paul: We would like to get the word out that there is elder abuse in New York State and locally as well and that there is help available for victims.

For more information on Lifespan and how to get help for elder abuse, call 585-244-8400.