Kilkenny's Brian Cody launches HSE/South East Community Healthcare’s awareness of World Elder Abuse Day

Kilkenny hurling legend Brian Cody was on hand at the HSE regional offices in Lacken, Kilkenny to officially launch the annual World Elder Abuse Awareness Day today.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day aims to raise awareness and create a culture of prevention against elder abuse. Violence and abuse against older people is a worldwide phenomenon that can take place in many forms.

The key theme for World Elder Abuse Day 2023 is around challenging all forms of ageism and standing up for the rights of older adults and the more vulnerable sections of our society.

“I am delighted to support the HSE’s South East Safeguarding Committee in officially launching their activities for World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. It is important to take a stand against all forms of ageism in society," said Mr Cody.

The HSE’s Safeguarding Committee in the South East are running a number of key actions in conjunction with World Elder Abuse Day 2023. This committee is made up of representatives from various statutory, community and voluntary agencies across counties Carlow, Kilkenny, South Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford.

One of the major actions is the running of an information campaign across all of the Credit Unions in the South East. This visual information campaign will be broadcasted through InfoTV in all Credit Unions and will specifically target older people and people with specific needs and requirements.

The main hope of the campaign is that vulnerable adults will reach out to the Safeguarding and Protection team when they see the information on adult abuse on InfoTV.

At the regional World Elder Abuse Awareness Day launch in Kilkenny, Grace Rothwell (Chief Officer, HSE/South East Community Healthcare) said:

“We want to get the message out to challenge all forms of ageism and to get in touch with the Safeguarding and Protection team if you have safeguarding concerns about any vulnerable adult experiencing abuse. There is a combined potential audience of 315,000 people across the Credit Union network in the south east each month. We are also targeting the postal service, libraries and many other public services with the third edition of our Safeguarding Newsletter. Safeguarding should be everyone’s business.”