The Revelstoke Community Response Network recently released a video to help educate youth on elder abuse and neglect.
Take Time for Seniors is meant to build empathy, curiosity and interest towards seniors and their stories, said the network in a news release.
The video asks youths to reflect on their views of seniors, asking themselves the question; “What do you think about seniors?”
Take Time for Seniors features local youths Claire Brown and Aiden Hill, along with a number of seniors in Revelstoke.
Brown said is a good reminder of the value seniors bring. “It was a really fun experience to be a part of this, and I know it was for a good cause,” she said.
“After all we should always acknowledge and respect our elders and their contribution to our community.”
World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is celebrated each June 15. According to the Office of the Seniors Advocate of B.C., the date represents the one day in the year when the whole world voices its opposition to the abuse and suffering inflicted on older generations.
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A survey in 2016 by the National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly suggested 766,000 Canadian seniors were abused the year prior.
According to the World Health Organization, elder abuse is “a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person.”
Last month, the Canadian military discovered horrific allegations of elder abuse in five Ontario long-term care homes. The soldiers were called into the facilities to help the provincial system, which had become overwhelmed by COVID-19 cases.
The military provided a graphic report to the provincial and federal government of residents being bullied, drugged, improperly fed and left for days in soiled bedding.
Premier Doug Ford at a press conference last month called the report “gut-wrenching.”
“Reading this report is the hardest thing I have done as premier,” Ford said.
Over 1,600 troops have been brought in to backstop five long-term care homes in Ontario and 25 in Quebec until the end of June.
More than 3,000 care home residents have died in Canada due to COVID-19.
The Revelstoke Community Response Network is a combination of local organizations working together to create a coordinated response to adult abuse and neglect.
The network has worked to try and connect youths and seniors for the past two years.
The pandemic has caused the network’s usual intergenerational programming activities to be modified.
Instead of visits to Moberly Manor, students wrote letters, did outdoor chalk and window art and created sidewalk art with poems and drawings for seniors.
The video Take Time For Seniors was created by local film producer FD Productions.