NEW YORK (May 6, 2008) -- Weill Cornell Medical College has been awarded $80,000 to study the creation of a Manhattan Elder Abuse Case Coordination and Review Center (EACCRC), in collaboration with the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Center for Elder Abuse Prevention at the Hebrew Home at Riverdale and the New York City Elder Abuse Network.
Funded by the Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, with matching funds from a donor identified by the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, the new financial support will go towards advancing the goals of preventing abuse and helping victims achieve a life without mistreatment. Each year, as many as 10 percent of older Americans are injured physically, debilitated psychologically and exploited financially, often by an adult child or other family relative.
The new Center would build on the work of the New York City Elder Abuse Network -- a multidisciplinary group of more than 40 physicians, social workers, attorneys, psychiatrists and other professionals that has been meeting monthly since 2006 to discuss cases of elder abuse and formulate strategies to improve intervention and prevention.
"With the number of older people on the rise, it is increasingly important to develop effective strategies for addressing elder abuse and neglect. This is a complex problem that requires a focused collaborative effort. This grant will provide the resources to take our work to another level," says Risa Breckman, L.C.S.W., director of social work education and programs in the Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, and a nationally renowned authority on elder abuse and neglect.
"We are very grateful to the Samuels Foundation and matching funds from the Hebrew Home at Riverdale donor for their support of this program, which will help transform what is currently an ad hoc group into a formal entity," adds Dr. Mark Lachs, co-chief of the Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology, director of the Center for Aging Research and Clinical Care, and the Irene F. and I. Roy Psaty Distinguished Professor of Clinical Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He is also director of geriatrics for the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System and Paul Beeson Physician Faculty Scholar from the American Federation for Aging Research through funding from the John A. Hartford Foundation.
Research by Dr. Lachs has identified such repercussions of elder abuse and neglect as overwhelming feelings of fear, isolation and anger, as well as depression, and links to decreased longevity.
For more information, visit cornellaging.com/elderabuse.
Weill Cornell Medical College
Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University's medical school located in New York City, is committed to excellence in research, teaching, patient care and the advancement of the art and science of medicine, locally, nationally and globally. Weill Cornell, which is a principal academic affiliate of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, offers an innovative curriculum that integrates the teaching of basic and clinical sciences, problem-based learning, office-based preceptorships, and primary care and doctoring courses. Physicians and scientists of Weill Cornell Medical College are engaged in cutting-edge research in areas such as stem cells, genetics and gene therapy, geriatrics, neuroscience, structural biology, cardiovascular medicine, transplantation medicine, infectious disease, obesity, cancer, psychiatry and public health -- and continue to delve ever deeper into the molecular basis of disease in an effort to unlock the mysteries of the human body in health and sickness. In its commitment to global health and education, the Medical College has a strong presence in places such as Qatar, Tanzania, Haiti, Brazil, Austria and Turkey. Through the historic Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, the Medical College is the first in the U.S. to offer its M.D. degree overseas. Weill Cornell is the birthplace of many medical advances -- including the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer, the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., the first clinical trial of gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, the first indication of bone marrow's critical role in tumor growth, and most recently, the world's first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally-conscious brain-injured patient. For more information, visit www.med.cornell.edu.