Calls to a seniors abuse line were up nearly 20 per cent in 2019, says a new report from the B.C. Seniors Advocate.
The Seniors Abuse and Information Line, called SAIL, saw a 17 per cent increase in calls related to abuse — emotional, financial and physical, according to the Monitoring Seniors Services report, released Tuesday.
Emotional abuse, at 32 per cent, was one of the top three types of harm reported to SAIL in 2019, followed by financial abuse at 29 per cent, and physical abuse at 10 per cent.
A systemic review of abuse and neglect of seniors by the advocate’s office is expected to be released in February.
Seniors Advocate Isobel Mackenzie said Tuesday that more awareness is needed about what elder abuse is. “What does it look like so that the general public can know it when they’re seeing it, and then they need to know where to report it.”
In 2019, the line received 5,558 calls, of which 28 per cent were related to abuse, 46 per cent were about non-abuse matters and 26 per cent were for general information.
The report says there were 1,672 victims in the category of violent offences against seniors reported to the RCMP, while more than 19,000 seniors complained of property offences, such as theft or vandalism.
There are indications most abuse of seniors is financial, with about half of it stemming from family members, based on surveys the office has done and data it has collected, Mackenzie said.
Mackenzie said the 17 per cent increase relates to a very small number of calls. With one million seniors in the province, those figures don’t give a true measure of abuse, she told an online news conference.
“Yes, the increase is concerning, but what’s even more concerning is we’re clearly missing a whole bunch that’s out there.”
In a 2017 study, the World Health Organization found that about one in six people age 60 years or older had experienced abuse, but that only one in 24 cases of elder abuse is reported.
The Monitoring Seniors Services looks at performance and trends in various services and supports for B.C. seniors, including health care, housing, transportation and income support, with year-over-year comparisons.
The report reflects the fiscal year 2019-2020, so data for services and support programs that might be affected by COVID-19 are not available.
In Island Health, the proportion of seniors age 60 and older is 24 per cent, the largest of any health authority in the province, with 207,018 seniors in a population of 858,785.
The report shows a significant number of programs available to seniors and “extremely encouraging” trends, Mackenzie said.
It found that seniors are generally healthy, with just 19 per cent of those age 65-84 living with complex chronic conditions and only three per cent diagnosed with dementia.
The large majority of seniors — 94 per cent of those 65 and older and 72 per cent of those 85 and older — live independently, with only six per cent in assisted or long-term care.
The report cites advances in adult day programs, with seven per cent more programs and 12 per cent more clients attending than in the previous year, and a 21 per cent reduction in the wait list.
As well, it cites an increase in funding by the B.C. government of care hours in long-term care. The situation will be “even better” in next year’s report, said Mackenzie.
As for challenges, the report points to a 27 per cent increase in wait times to get into a long-term care facility, lack of growth in subsidized assisted living care to allow seniors to live independently longer, and an increase in the use of anti-psychotic medication in residents in long-term care homes who do not have a diagnosis of psychosis.
Last year, 30.8 per cent of residents in long-term care facilities were administered an anti-psychotic drug — 0.8 per cent higher than in 2018-2019.
The national average, 26.6 per cent, also increased slightly over the previous year.
— With files from The Canadian Press
