Millbrook event will raise awareness of elder abuse and scams

The Central Alabama Aging Consortium will bring elder-abuse prevention into the open at the Millbrook Senior Center, where a June 17 program is set for 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at 3771 Grandview Road. The event will put law enforcement officials, state leaders, senior advocates and community members in the same room for a practical discussion of abuse, neglect, financial exploitation and the scams aimed at older adults.

Featured speakers are expected to include Jean Brown, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Senior Services, Montgomery County District Attorney Azzie Melton Oliver and representatives from the Alabama Attorney General’s Office. Organizers will also hold the traditional bubble release, a visual reminder of older adults whose abuse or exploitation has gone unseen, unreported or hidden behind closed doors.

The timing carries added weight because World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is observed each year on June 15, a campaign first initiated in 2006 and later recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in 2011. The message behind the day is broad, but the warning signs are specific. The World Health Organization says elder abuse includes physical, sexual, psychological and emotional abuse, financial and material abuse, abandonment, neglect and serious loss of dignity and respect.

For families and caregivers, the modern scam playbook is part of the danger. Organizers pointed to fake Medicare calls, computer scams, AI-generated voice impersonations, fraudulent medical equipment offers and other financial exploitation schemes that can target older adults quickly and quietly. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines neglect as failure to meet an older adult’s basic needs, and financial abuse as the illegal, unauthorized or improper use of money, benefits, property or assets for someone else’s benefit.

In Alabama, suspected abuse, neglect or exploitation can be reported through Adult Protective Services, which investigates cases through its 67 county offices. The Department of Human Resources says anonymous reports are accepted, and it says anyone concerned about an adult 18 or older who cannot protect themselves because of mental or physical impairments may report suspected abuse. Mandated reporters must file immediately after they have reasonable cause to believe abuse, neglect or exploitation has occurred.

The Millbrook Senior Center itself, a collaboration involving the Grandview YMCA, the Central Alabama Aging Consortium and the City of Millbrook, gives the issue a local home base. That matters in a region where older adults make up 17.1% of Autauga County’s population, 15.8% in Millbrook and 18.5% statewide, a reminder that elder protection is not a distant policy issue but a neighborhood responsibility.