'Safeguarding Seniors' symposium spreads awareness, empathy for elder abuse victims

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. - "It was set up for him to come here. I paid for his airfare. He was to come to Philadelphia airport, I was to go pick him up, and he never showed," said Kate Kleinert.

The 71-year-old widow was a romance scam victim, cultivated on Facebook. The scammer took $39,000, all of her savings, and a lot more.

"The money loss is horrible, but the emotional loss was so much harder," she said.

Her story is highlighted at events like Lehigh County's "Safeguarding Seniors" symposium. It focused on physical, emotional, and financial elder abuse.

"We joke around, when someone calls you for money always say no," said Ramma Mineo, head of Lehigh County's Elder Abuse Task Force.

She says elder-targeted fraud crimes tripled in the past three years. In 2023 financial losses from such scams topped $3 billion nationwide.

Keynote speaker Paul Greenwood, who prosecuted elder abuse cases in San Diego for 22 years, says language has to change when interviewing victims.

"To avoid putting the blame on them. Even suggesting, how could you have been so stupid? Sometimes people don't realize the harmful effect of those words on the victims," Greenwood said.

For Kleinert, she hopes her words do make an impact.

"It's more believable when I speak about it, it's more compelling," she said.