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I'm State Representative Richard LeBlanc and I wish to first thank you for visiting my webpage.  One of the things that we are talking about today within the House of Representatives is elder care. 

Some people ask, "what is elder abuse?" and I guess I would suggest that it ranges over the course of a number of things.  Certainly there could be abandonment or neglect, there could be emotional or physical abuse or neglect but one of the things that we're concentrating on right now is the financial exploitation that involves seniors. 

We've got a series of bills that are being proposed that will attack this problem.  It is to protect those that really need the protection.  And if you were to categorize it as to its level of importance, it's actually about 15% of all abuse cases that involve an elderly person do involve the financial component. 

So some people have said, what does your plan do?  Very simply, the plan has a number of critical elements in it.  They make it mandatory, for instance, for employees of financial institutions to report suspected elder abuse.  So, whether it be a bank, or a credit union, or some other financial responsibility, if they're recognizing that there's an act that is occurring that would be considered abuse or suspected abuse, it must be reported.  It is mandatory. 

There is also an element that would allow for a third-party to file a complaint on behalf of a victim.  Let's face it.  Not everyone is comfortable doing it, not everybody recognizes the signs of elder abuse, not everybody has the wherewithal to actually formally complain.  This bill, this series of bills, rather, would allow for a third party, someone else then to file a complaint on behalf of an elderly person. 

Moving on to a couple of other things involving this series of bills: Michigan's Adult Protective Services investigated more than 9,300 cases of adult mistreatment in the year 2001. Now again, that's Michigan.  9,300 cases within our own state.  And, the investigation has found, that about 70% of all of these victims, suffered neglect.  And 15% were physically abused.  So, there's a number of things to consider within this entire series of bills that we think are definitely things that are necessary and, on behalf of our senior population, things that we believe, frankly, are overdue. 

In wrapping up this radio address, I'd like to say a couple of things in closing.  We would all agree that elder abuse is a heinous crime and it has to be negated, it has to be stopped, it has to be addressed.  I'm really curious, what the folks of Westland think about this.  I found that most people are willing to share if you provide an invitation, so I'm going to do just that.  Why don't you give us a call.  My toll-free number, as most people know, is 888-737-5325. We want to know what you think about this series of bills. 

Do you know any people that could actually use our help today?  We'd be glad to step in and provide you with the resource necessary to attack this kind of a problem.  At the end of the day, we recognize that we have to strengthen protection for our seniors to make sure that the predators that might be out there are stopped in their tracks.  I look forward to hearing from you.  Thanks again.