Take Action
Host Your Own Screening
We encourage 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 organize screenings and actions around An Age for Justice: Confronting Elder Abuse in America in a nationwide effort to increase public awareness of elder abuse in America and to give elders and advocates a voice in effecting needed policy changes. To learn more about the campaign and to see the faces and hear the voices of the elders this crisis affects please watch videos here and continue your visit at our site!
Join the movement and start planning your event today! It’s easy, and on this page you’ll find everything you need to host a successful screening in your community! Here are four simple steps and if you would like additional details, download our comprehensive community Screening Guide by clicking here.
1. Identify your objectives and target audiences
We encourage you to think about what you’d like to get out of the event. Your objective may be as basic as building public awareness around the issue of elder abuse or more focused on prompting a discussion within your community (whether that community is a senior center, law enforcement agency, counseling center, neighborhood, or larger community as a whole). You may want to inspire viewers to support a local issue or program or provide a forum where audience members can discuss how the issue affects their lives and their families’ lives.
We urge you to be clear about what type of screening you want to hold (public vs. private, large vs. small, etc.), who your audience will be (elders, social workers, law enforcement, families of elders, general public, etc.), and what message you hope the audience will get from the presentation.
2. Get the word out!
If you host a public screening, publicity will help draw people to your event but also will raise awareness for the issue. Whether you are showing An Age for Justice: Confronting Elder Abuse in America in your senior center, to local law enforcement officials, or to a larger public audience, we have provided materials that will help you bring attention to the event should you need or want to promote it. In the Screening Guide we have included a flyer template, a press release template, and a template for a public service announcement.
If publicizing an event is new to you, contact another organization in your community that you know has experience with event promotion and ask for their help.
3. Preparing for the event and materials
TEST EQUIPMENT: To order a DVD for your screening, click here. Be sure to use the coupon code ‘elderjusticenow‘ so that you receive the DVD at cost ($7.50). We will send you the DVD in the mail and although it will likely have no flaws, we encourage you to watch the video before the screening using the equipment that you will use at the event. We also recommend that you have the video projector system set up at least a half hour before the audience arrives so you can ensure that everything is running smoothly. Be sure to address the needs of people with hearing and visual limitations, especially if your target audience is older Americans.
MATERIALS: Whether or not you have a conversation with the audience, we strongly encourage you to provide printed materials that the audience can take home. We recognize that you will likely have materials appropriate for your audience but have also provided a variety of printouts in our Screening Guide just in case. These include an:
- Elder Abuse Fact Sheet
- Elder Justice Act Summary
- Summary of the Human Rights of the Aged
- Introduction to the Elder Justice Now Campaign
POST-SCREENING DISCUSSION GUIDE: The most challenging part of showing this film may be discussing it with the audience afterwards. This is particularly true if you are hosting the screening in a senior center, a retirement facility, or elsewhere older adults and their loved ones will be present. We encourage you to be prepared by having a social worker, a discussion facilitator, and crisis contact information available. We have included a range of questions to get your discussion started in the Discussion Guide that can be found in our full Screening Guide.
CHECKLIST: Finally, double check the Event Planning Checklist in our comprehensive Screening Guide to be sure that you haven’t forgotten anything.
4. The event!
We suggest giving a brief introduction before the screening to introduce the film and the campaign, to let people know that there will be a post-screening discussion, and to encourage the audience to participate. If you have any special guests, such as local organizers or advocates, you may want to announce them as well.
Once the film is over, we recommend that you provide or distribute the materials before the post-screening discussion as some people may not stay for the full discussion.
The discussion guide will help you frame questions and lead a targeted discussion about issues in the film, in your community, and how to take action following your event. Be sure to leave enough time for the discussion, as this will be your opportunity to connect An Age for Justice: Confronting Elder Abuse in America to issues in your community and to encourage people to take action!
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Please let us know about your event!!
1. Please send us advance information about your event including the date, time and location, and a link to your website (if applicable), and we’ll post your event on our screenings page. This way we help publicize your event and share it with the Elder Justice Now community.
2. Finally, please let us know how the event goes by filling out our Organizer Survey, Audience Survey or both! Your responses will help us plan future events and better understand what worked and what can be improved. Thank you for your support!
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Please Fill Out Our Surveys – Organizer and Audience! Thank you for your feedback and for joining the Elder Justice Now campaign! |
Please lets make this a priority. Our elders are our gift.
Anyone who abuses the elderly is at the bottom of the scale of humanity. The elderly are easy to prey on but there is absolutely NO excuse for taking advantage of them in any way. Please help the elderly and pass laws that give them more power and the help they need to protect themselves. Often they are clueless about how the world these days works. Put a comprehensible system in place that will come to their aid.
This could happen to someone you love dearly. Stop the abuse.
I take care of my elderly mother and this sort of thing boggles my mind.We must put an end to this madness once and for all!
It is unconscionable that Congress has held hearings on the horrors of elder abuse for over 30 years and has yet to pass a single comprehensive law to address it. This is in sharp contrast to the dozens of laws and $9 billion in funds addressing child abuse as well as the half billion provided to battered women’s and rape crisis services under the Violence Against Women Act – all of which are needed and well deserved. But while our seniors fought to protect our country and to build the prosperity we have long enjoyed, our national lawmakers have been content to ignore their suffering at the hands of their own family members, caregivers and others. As a result, one in nine older persons is abused (hit, punched, burned), neglected (left to lie in their own waste, not fed or given water) and financially exploited in the billions of dollars every year without a penny of designated funding from the federal government. Adult Protective Services (APS) are the “boots on the ground” in the fight against elder abuse, as they are the people who go into seniors’ homes to investigate the abuse and to offer protection. PASS THE ELDER JUSTICE ACT TO HELP WOEFULLY UNDERFUNDED STATE AND LOCAL APS PROGRAMS SO THEY CAN RESPOND TO AND PROTECT OUR ELDERS! Thank you! If justice delayed is justice denied, 30 years with no action is a grave injustice to the people we say we honor and respect.
It seems there are many groups tackling this issue. I think it would be better for all the groups to unite and then have one strong voice. There should be a national organization supported by members (individuals) so the politicians see our numbers. Just look at the National Rifle Association as an example. Right now, politicians see a patchwork of elder abuse groups and no membership to speak of. And regarding the Elder Justice Act, while it’s a step in the right direction, I want to see changes to how banks do business. When I study how my brother was able to steal $30K from my mother, I see holes that need to be plugged. I have a list of nine items which would have prevented the looting. So, I’d like someone to take charge and unite everyone and get a membership supported organization, with a lobbying group, that Washington will understand. It shouldn’t take 25-30 years for this to be solved.
I feel strongly about Protecting our elders from the many abuses they face everyday. My dear mother was a victim of neglect and serious abuse. There was no consequences for the perpatrator of this horrible abuse. This cannot go on any longer–we must unite and do all we can to serve our elderly by helping to get this act passed in Congress. Please act now and call your representatives and get others to do the same. This nation cannot continue to allow elders to face abuse and neglect!
Stop the elder abuse!
Please pass the Elder Justice Act. Thank you.
Stop abusing elder people and treat them with fairness and dignity.
stop abusing elder people and treat them with fairness and dignity!
Even if you are sure that you deserve to avenge yourself either on your parents, older relatives or others of previous generations, it’s unethical to seek and effect such revenge in physical or financial forms if and when they become physically at a disadvantage. There are legitimate ways of triumphing over the overbearing and/or abuse that can come from our elders when we were young and at many physical and/or mental disadvantages. Physical abuse of such elders in their old age does not help anyone or anything.
I agree John C. We all need to unite. I am married to a great guy whose only crime was trusting those closest to him. It was very easy for his adult children to financially exploit him . I wish we had the power of the NRA,because it is almost impossible to afford an expensive legal battle to get justice. I went to DSS, police dept. etc… It was an exhausting effort …
GREED, THEFT, ABUSE CRUELTY – WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT-?
Our seniors deserve protection from animals who would abuse them, and Washington needs to realize that!
Senior citizens deserve the same rights afforded to all citizens under the Constitution of the United States of America.
We need to take action now. It breaks my heart to hear this is going on.
There needs to be some kind of reform because there is financial exploitation of the elderly…from corporations who hold your health benefits, disability benefits, and retirement, and they are allowed to get away with this….because they are 501 c 3 and think they’re absolved from the laws of the land. When they do not govern themselves, they can financially destroy what we have worked for. From my experience, and the many organizations I have contacted, I have found that no one seems to care….that is unless there are consequences…financial ones.
We had a trusted family who came over for years. They have taken a power of attorney and went crazy. Sold land. Exstorted the money from the sale and everyone we talks to says we have a mess. Elder Abuse and State Police are involved. These people have stolen our life. Living out of State made us all victoms. Any suggestions would be great. Thank you for your sight. We need to all stick together. PS besides for a broken Heart Grandma is doing great. After they got the money she says she was left for days with no food. I hope Karma find people who hurt others.
I will like Elder justice act passed.
We need to protect our elders from unnecssary stress.
It takes turn for one to become an elder someday.
What goes around must surely come back.
For surety, our sin must surely find us.
Be careful what you do with your elder.
Stop Elder abuse now.
We welcome Elder justice Act.
Everybody must age and be careful what you do.
I am both disabled and older and have no idea what to do to stay afloat since my partner died and I completely fell apart. I had no shred of a support system and still have none! Elder justice and Disabled justice seem like natural partners as it’s the mainly disabled elder that are taken such gross advantage of. Just drawing attention to something that’s an important aspect of what makes elder abuse so easy, it’s happened to me and my brother got away with everything! It’s easy to pass laws, very very hard to enforce them!
@Gregory Gath
KARMA WILL DEFINATELY FIND YOU
norma dofflemyer let me set this straight an let the people really know who u r u r married to a 91 year old man an u r 50 something as soon as u got married an found out that u couldnt get his house u have not let his family see him all bc they wouoldnt sign the house over to u so u changed the house number in which he had had over 50 years changed his drs in which he had had for 30 years an wont let his children see him an we have heard an seen u physically abuse him but no one will do anything bc u r on mental disability they kind of let it slide but one day u will stand in front of GOD then u will pay !!!!!!!!!!
True, be careful how you treat the elderly. We are a frail group, and are usually taken advantage of. I have experienced, first hand, over the last 5 years, the emotional, and financial abuse of huge non profit corporations, who are relentless about making sure our last days are filled with fear, and the “Helping” state and federal agencies who don’t lift a finger to help, because non profits don’t “fall under their jurisdiction” . Oh, sure, they give lip service about how they help, but talk is cheap. I intend to start a foundation where “real” help is given, an advocacy foundation for people like me who have been financially and emotionally exploited. The only problem is that there are no pro bono lawyers to stave off these large corporations that refuse to take responsibility for the havoc they wreak in the lives of the elderly, and continue to do so.