National campaign to fight elder abuse receives Gold Marketing Communications Award for Consumer Public Relations Campaign

Elder Justice Now, a national video advocacy campaign to help enact the Elder Justice Act and create greater awareness around elder abuse, received a Gold Marketing Communications Award for a Consumer Public Relations Campaign from the 19th annual National Mature Media Awards. The largest awards program of its kind, the National Mature Media Awards recognizes the best advertising, marketing, and educational materials produced for older adults. The Elder Justice Now campaign was produced jointly by the National Council on Aging (NCOA) and WITNESS, with the support of the Elder Justice Coalition.

“We are proud of the recognition this campaign has received from the National Mature Media Awards,” said Jim Firman, president and CEO of NCOA. “Elder Justice Now has been a tremendously collaborative campaign involving the contributions of dozens of partnering organizations, with whom we have been honored to work alongside in this national effort.”

The Elder Justice Now campaign, which significantly contributed to the successful passage of the Elder Justice Act earlier this year, was initiated in 2009. Through the use of video and the Internet, the campaign showcased the faces of hundreds of individuals who have been touched by this growing problem in an effort to heighten the visibility of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation, and to give elders and advocates a voice in affecting policy change.

“Putting a human face to elder abuse was extremely important to the successful implementation of achieving greater advocacy around this issue,” said Kelly Matheson, program manager for the Americas, WITNESS. “This campaign was a prime example of how video advocacy can affect change.”

NCOA partnered with WITNESS, an international human rights organization specializing in video advocacy, to produce “An Age for Justice: Confronting Elder Abuse in America,” a documentary featuring stories of four elder abuse survivors and their families.

The documentary was combined with more than 100 additional stories told by advocates, caregivers, law enforcement officials and other survivors to create a compelling collage of testimonials, which were shared with Congress through the use of online, social and traditional media, grassroots efforts, and direct advocacy, including a briefing on Capitol Hill.

The passage of the Elder Justice Act authorizes first-time dedicated federal funding for Adult Protective Services over the next four years and increased funding for the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program. Additionally, the act establishes an Elder Justice Coordinating Council to make recommendations to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on the coordination of activities of federal, state, local and private agencies and entities relating to elder abuse, neglect and exploitation.

The Elder Justice Now campaign has been an integral part of the work of the Elder Justice Coalition, a group of 640 partnering organizations throughout the country who advocate on behalf of the millions of victims of elder abuse to pass the Elder Justice Act. Elder abuse is a silent issue that robs the nation’s elders of their dignity, their security and, in some cases, costs them their lives. Elder Justice Now provided a platform for America’s frail and vulnerable elders to be seen and heard. To view the documentary and the other testimonials, click here .

In recognition of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, Link TV will broadcast An Age for Justice: Confronting Elder Abuse in America on June 15 at 8:30 p.m. EST on DIRECTV, the DISH Network and select cable networks.  The film features stories of elder abuse recorded by video advocates across the U.S., and is part of the Elder Justice Now campaign, a joint effort of the National Council on Aging (NCOA) and WITNESS to raise awareness of the increasing prevalence of elder abuse in the United States.

“Elder abuse is a growing but underreported problem, and we are grateful to Link TV for sharing these compelling stories with millions of viewers,” said Jim Firman, president and CEO of NCOA. “This national broadcast gives a voice to many victims, and we hope it will encourage people to be vigilant against abuse in their lives and lives of their loved ones, and to advocate with their political representatives.”

According to the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), as many as two million Americans aged 65 or older may have suffered abuse of some sort. The NCEA defines abuse as any intentional or negligent act by a caregiver or any other person that causes harm or a serious risk of harm to a vulnerable adult including financial, physical, emotional or sexual abuse.

In addition to Link TV’s nationwide broadcast on June 15, WITNESS and NCOA have launched a national screening initiative to distribute the film and 11 other individual videos. Community organizations, senior centers, and all others are invited to host screenings in order to raise awareness about the silent issue of elder abuse.  Visit here for additional information. Link TV will also promote the broadcast and stream the video via their website, www.linktv.org .

About Link TV
Link TV is an independent non-commercial network devoted to global issues, available in 32 million U.S. homes receiving satellite television on DIRECTV channel 375 and DISH Network channel 9410. Select programs are shown on more than 170 local cable systems, on many college campus channels and streamed worldwide on the Internet. For more information, click here.

About Witness
WITNESS is an international human rights organization that uses the power of video to open the eyes of the world to human rights abuses. By partnering with local organizations around the globe, WITNESS empowers human rights defenders to use video to transform personal stories of abuse into powerful tools of justice. WITNESS has partnered with groups in more than 70 countries, bringing often unseen images, untold stories and seldom heard voices to the attention of key decision makers, the media, and the general public – prompting grassroots activism, political engagement, and lasting change.

About the National Council on Aging
The National Council on Aging (NCOA) is a non-profit service and advocacy organization headquartered in Washington, DC. NCOA is a national voice for older Americans – especially those who are vulnerable and disadvantaged – and the community organizations that serve them. It brings together non-profit organizations, businesses and government to develop creative solutions that improve the lives of all older adults. NCOA works with thousands of organizations across the country to help seniors find jobs and benefits improve their health, live independently and remain active in their communities. For more information, click here.

Over the course of the last decade, the Elder Justice Coalition has been fighting to secure passage of the Elder Justice Act. To support the passage of this landmark legislation and empower Americans to speak up about the growing crisis of elder abuse, the National Council on Aging (NCOA), WITNESS and 17 elder rights advocates from across the nation went into the homes of courageous American seniors to document their poignant stories about abuse, neglect and exploitation. With the video footage we produced a short documentary, An Age for Justice: Confronting Elder Abuse in America and over 100 video testimonies. These films and short messages were then sent directly to Congress with a request to pass the Elder Justice Act (EJA). Our federal government responded on March 23 when this bill was signed into law as part of the comprehensive health reform legislation.

While health care reform captured the national headlines, the EJA unquestionably deserves our attention. When asked about provisions of health reform that received little fanfare, Health and Human Secretary Kathleen Sebelius pointed to the EJA — legislation that gives our nation a solid framework to protect seniors from being beaten, neglected and exploited. She stated, “[The Elder Justice Act] has been an issue talked about for a very long time . . . . It’s now the law of the land. It was part of the underlying Senate bill, and I don’t think many people have ever focused on the fact that this is an important step forward for seniors in America.”

The reason this is an important step forward is because the EJA is the most comprehensive federal legislation ever enacted to combat elder abuse. The EJA authorizes increased federal resources and leadership to support state and community efforts to prevent, detect, treat, understand, intervene in and, where appropriate, prosecute elder abuse. It also authorizes funding for broad-based education and awareness efforts.

While this is a critical victory for today’s seniors and each of the 76 million boomers that have a one in ten chance of facing elder abuse as our society grays, the work is not done. We now need Congress to fund and implement the EJA. This process now sits in the hands of the appropriations committees in the House and Senate.

For now, all of us at Elder Justice Now would like to thank each of you who spoke up by writing to your Congressional Representative. Your voice made a difference. And for those of you who shared your story, a very special thanks. We know the strength this took. As Pat Smith, one of the courageous seniors so succinctly states, “I don’t think this is an issue people like to think or talk about.” While true, we all must continue this conversation.

To be a part of the national effort to raise awareness of this growing crisis, we encourage everyone reading this along with elders, members of the Aging Services Network, grassroots groups, senior centers, retirement homes, congregations, law enforcement, health care providers, academics and any individual with grandparents across the country to Host-A-Screening of the short documentary film, An Age for Justice: Confronting Elder Abuse in America. By hosting a community screening of the film you will be protecting the dignity of today’s seniors and helping to ensure we can all live free from abuse tomorrow.