USA Today Article on Elder Abuse and the Vulnerable Elder Protection Team Program
USA TODAY's article, "Elder Abuse: ERs Learn How to Protect a Vulnerable Population," discusses the need to recognize elder abuse in emergency departments. It focuses on the work of the Vulnerable Elder Protection Team Program (VEPT) led by Dr. Tony Rosen.
The program works by the ER staff alerting the team to signs of elder abuse, who interview the patient and look for specific injuries. “Unlike with child abuse victims, where there is a standard protocol in place for screening, there is no equivalent for the elderly, but we have designed and are evaluating one,” said Tony Rosen.
Launched earlier this year at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center ER, the VEPT program was initially funded by a small grant from The John A. Hartford Foundation and is now fully funded by the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation.
To read the article, click here.
The article originally appeared in Kaiser Health News. To read on KHN, click here.