Press Contacts:
Ken Schwartz
Director of Marketing & Communications
National Council on Aging
202.600.3131
Ken.schwartz@ncoa.org
 

Kelly Matheson
Program Manager, Americas
WITNESS
718.783.2000
Kelly@witness.org
 

National Broadcast of Elder Abuse Film Announced for International Day of Older Persons

Washington, D.C. - September 28, 2010  In recognition of the U.N.-sponsored International Day of Older Persons, Link TV will broadcast An Age for Justice: Confronting Elder Abuse in America on October 1 at 9:45 p.m. ET on DIRECTV, the DISH Network, and select cable networks, as well as at www.linktv.org/elderabuse.

The film, funded in part by the Fledgling Fund, 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. This is the second time Link TV has partnered with NCOA and WITNESS to help raise awareness about the silent issue of elder abuse.

“Elder abuse is a growing but underreported problem, and we are grateful for the ongoing commitment from Link TV to join with us to give voice to vulnerable older adults,” said Jim Firman, president and CEO of NCOA. “We hope this national broadcast will inspire and empower local communities to join the fight against elder abuse.”

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.

Earlier this year, NCOA and WITNESS launched a national screening initiative to widely distribute the film and 11 individual video stories as a tool for raising awareness and facilitating community education and dialogue on elder abuse, found here at www.elderjusticenow.org/host-a-screening/. Link TV first supported this effort by broadcasting An Age for Justice on World Elder Abuse Awareness Day on June 15. A selection of the community screenings can be found here: http://elderjusticenow.org/host-a-screening/screenings-an-age-for-justic....

NCOA also encourages comments about elder justice policy ideas on its ideas exchange website: The Exchange: Putting Ideas to Work for Older Americans at www.AgingExchange.org.

To learn more about the U.N. observance of the International Day of Older Persons, visit the U.N. online at http://www.un.org/ageing/un_meetings.html.

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, visit http://www.linktv.org.