THE Coffs Coast Elder Abuse Prevention Collaborative held a very productive morning with service providers on Thursday 5 October at the Coffs Harbour CWA Office.

The re-established Collaborative member groups are Healthy North Coast, Coffs Harbour Older Women’s Network, Mid North Coast Local Health District, Coffs/Clarence Police, EACH Care Finders, Coffs CWA, BlueSky Community Services, Seniors Rights Service, Booroongen Djugun and City of Coffs Harbour.

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Judy Bartholomew will serve as Chair.

The aim of the morning was to introduce the Collaborative’s members to each other and to discuss the development of a local directory of relevant contacts to assist older people in the community who may have concerns around psychological, financial, physical or sexual abuse or neglect.

Knowing that fear can be a major issue for older persons reporting incidents or seeking help, the Collaborative members understand this needs to be addressed as well as increasing knowledge of who older people, or community members, can ask for information and/or advice.

“Abuse of older people is very much underreported in our community, and it has a huge impact on families and their older persons wellbeing,” a spokesperson from the Collaborative told News Of The Area.

“Education is key to knowing what elder abuse is and how to respond, so training of service providers and providing awareness sessions for the general community is vitally important.”

The collaborative will be holding a community event on the 29 November as an initial awareness education for older persons in our community.

For further information, please contact Judy Bartholomew on 0439 568 072 or email jbartholomew@hnc.org.au.

By Andrea FERRARI