New Educational Resources Launched for World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

The Pennsylvania Department of Aging (PDA) marks World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) by launching two new online education resources.

The first resource is a new web page that focuses on the growing problem of financial exploitation of older adults. The new Financial Exploitation Resource Web Page features information for older adults, caregivers, and other aging professionals on warning signs, preventive measures, and an expandable menu of resources on key topics such as banking and finance, legal services, and dementia. Future resources will include short educational videos from their Financial Exploitation Task Force experts explaining financial exploitation topics in everyday terms, as well as a social media toolkit.

The second resource is an elder abuse awareness web-based training. This interactive module is available to Commonwealth employees, Pennsylvania’s aging network, and the public. The module was developed to reach a broad audience and covers the four major types of abuse and how to recognize them; signs to watch for, mandatory and voluntary reporting of abuse, when and how to report; and more. The training takes about 20 minutes to complete and is available on the PDA Learning Management System.