Lisa's Picks

Good reads

NEW! - "Golden Opportunities Series"
My nomination for a Pulitzer (should anyone ask) goes to Charles Duhigg for his "Golden Opportunities" series in the New York Times. The series examined “how businesses and investors seek to profit from the soaring number of older Americans, in ways helpful and harmful.” Not surprisingly, most are harmful. Duhigg’s in-depth investigative reports describe how presumably legitimate businesses help financial predators, the pitfalls of reverse mortgages, and how private equity firms have been buying up nursing homes and using complex ownership structures to shield them from lawsuits for poor care and abuse. The series really should be on every elder advocate’s reading list. See Golden Opportunities

NEW! - Staying Abreast of Research the Painless Way
A great way to get the latest on elder abuse research is on the National Institute of Justice’s website, where they’ve posted the proceedings of the ”Emerging Issues in Elder Abuse Research Workshop.” The event, which took place in Washington DC on February 25-27, 2008 brought together many of the nation’s leading researchers in elder abuse to discuss their work. The site contains brief and succinct reports on a wide range of topics. See NIJ’s Emerging Issue.

NEW! - Crimes of Persuasion
I’m a little reluctant to plug or endorse sites that sell products and services (other than my own), but this site is a treasure trove for victims of financial crimes and those who care about them, law enforcement, and victim advocates. The site’s creator, Les Henderson, spent years doing research for the site, which is supported by sales of his books. Attesting to his credibility is an impressive list of lawsuits against him by questionable or downright fraudulent businesses. See Crimes of Persuasion.

Animal Hoarding: Structuring Interdisciplinary Responses to Help People, Animals, and Communities at Risk. (2006) Edited by Gary J. Patronek, Lynn Loar, and Jane N. Nathanson, Based on the proceedings of a 2004 meeting of experts from the fields of child abuse, dependent and elder abuse and animal abuse, the report is intended to help human health and welfare, municipal government, and animal welfare understand the role each other plays in resolving animal hoarding cases, and outlines strategies for working together more effectively to improve outcomes for human and animal victims of this behavior. It’s available online at: http://www.tufts.edu/vet/cfa/hoarding/pubs/AngellReport.pdf [PDF:1MB]

Missing voices: Views of Older Persons on Elder Abuse
This publication, jointly produced by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA) in 2002, summarizes the findings of a study that was the first step in instituting an international global strategy on elder abuse. What I found particularly striking about the publication, which focuses on abuse in developing countries, is its relevance for developed countries. It addresses such seldom talked-about issues as the roles of gender, poverty, and social exclusion. It is available on-line at http://www.who.int/ageing/projects/elder_abuse/missing_voices/en/index.html.

See in-depth review of Missing voices.