COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The Area Agency on Aging with the help of partners from Probate Courts in Branch and St. Joseph Counties have submitted an application for a grant from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to help fight abuse of elders.
Agency Coordinator Laura Sutter told the Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency Board of Health last Thursday that their team submitted 60 pages in the application after the Division of Victim Services released a request for proposals.
According to data from the department’s Adult Protective Services, the number of substantiated elder about cases has almost doubled in Branch and Saint Joseph Counties from 2012 until 2017.
There were 59 cases in Branch County and 133 in Saint Joseph County last year which is an 45 percent overall increase since 2012.
If approved, the agency will start working on the project in July with the official start up on October first. The grant would require staff members to serve as Elder Abuse Victim Advocates which would be similar to Advocates who respond to cases of family violence, domestic violence and sexual abuse.
