Highlights from the 2025 Ohio Elder Abuse Awareness Day
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s annual World Elder Abuse Awareness Day Conference returned to Columbus in 2025, drawing more than 200 professionals from across disciplines to Ohio State University’s Fawcett Center.
The daylong conference — convened by the office’s Elder Abuse Commission and its Elder Justice Unit — focused on the rapidly changing landscape of technology and the associated challenges of safeguarding older Ohioans.
With the theme of “New-Age Vulnerabilities: Protecting Older Adults in a Digital Era,” the conference offered attendees a morning keynote address, an afternoon plenary session and their choice of six workshops.
Tracy Dodson, a nurse educator, researcher, and associate professor at Kent State University, kicked off the event with an inspirational session on how generative artificial intelligence can be used in positive ways, including, for example, to re-create digital images of a person’s most poignant memories or moments. She told of the joy that such a project brought to long-term-care residents, reinforcing the importance of good emotional health.
During lunchtime remarks, Attorney General Yost emphasized the need to raise awareness of elder abuse.
“It’s infuriating that the elderly … should become the victims of predators who exploit their diminished vigor and capability,” he said. “Shouldn’t some things be off-limits — even to criminals?”
Yost also announced a new partnership with the Ohio Pharmacists Association — the first step in publicizing the Elder Abuse Hotline (1-855-OHIO-APS) and educating pharmacists about red flags of abuse. He underscored the unique role that pharmacists play as consistent points of contact for older adults, noting: “Do you know anybody over 60 years old who isn't taking at least one prescription?”
(View the Attorney General’s
full remarks.)
As part of the effort, the Pharmacists Association will open its continuing education platform to the Attorney General’s Office for presentations on identifying abuse and guiding at-risk individuals to safety and services.
“This could be a huge multiplier to get the word out that you’re not alone, you’re not abandoned, and you don’t have to take it,” Yost said.
The afternoon conference lineup began with a session featuring the AGO’s newly formed
Electronic Financial Investigations unit, part of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. In this plenary session, the team focused on the dangers of scams involving cryptocurrency and ran attendees through a case study.
Other sessions featured partners from local, state and federal agencies, including the U.S. Secret Service and the FBI, AARP of Ohio, and the Franklin County Auditor’s Office.
Conference attendees represented 51 of Ohio’s 88 counties, and included advocates, social workers, law-enforcement officers, banking-industry experts, attorneys, and medical professionals.
Read the AGO’s
news release on the event.
Highlights from the 2024 Ohio Elder Abuse Awareness Day
The Ohio Attorney General’s annual Elder Abuse Awareness Day Conference hit the road in 2024, with Dave Yost’s office partnering with Hamilton County Prosecutor Melissa Powers and her staff to host the conference at the Sharonville Convention Center in the Greater Cincinnati area.
The June 26 event, “Dollars and Sense: Financial Exploitation of Older Adults,” focused on how to protect what older Ohioans worked their whole lives to build. The daylong conference brought together more than 150 professionals from across disciplines who work to protect and educate and safeguard our state’s older residents.
During the opening session, AG Yost shared a powerful message of gratitude with advocates and others in attendance – all of whom work so tirelessly to do their part.
“You answer the call to weed through fact and fiction to save the vulnerable,” Yost told them. “You are heroes to these people, and to me.”
The conference – put on by the Attorney General’s Elder Abuse Commission, with sponsorship this year from the Ohio Coalition of Adult Protective Services – included general sessions focusing on successful community outreach and case studies from prosecutors. Workshops held throughout the day ranged in subject matter from how to protect those in long-term-care facilities to how cognitive impairments make senior citizens vulnerable to financial crimes.
Prosecutor Powers and Chief Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Broo presented the morning plenary session, laying out for attendees the important work of their office’s own Elder Justice Unit and speaking directly about how to do effective community outreach to the at-risk population of seniors.
An afternoon plenary session featured Page Ulrey, the senior deputy prosecutor attorney from the King County Prosecutor’s Office in the state of Washington. She walked attendees through a successful case prosecution. She also led a discussion on pitfalls in such cases and how to best protect the older adults that professionals serve.
Yost, in his remarks, emphasized why such work matters.
“Our elders are treasures,” he said. “They provide us with history, fill in our blanks, and impart wisdom from lives long-lived. But these folks too often become victims, losing their sense of security, their dignity, and often even their homes. Thankfully, that’s where you all come in.”
He shared a poignant story about a 73-year-old military veteran who reached out this year to his office’s Elder Justice Unit. The man was ill, his wife was in a nursing home, and he was being exploited by a relative. The Elder Justice Unit, the advocacy group ProSeniors and local law enforcement intervened, and the veteran’s relative is now facing two felony charges of theft.
The Attorney General reinforced the need for awareness and timely reporting in the fight against financial exploitation.
“Awareness is key to solving the problem,” he said. “There should be no shame in being ripped off; it happens. But failure to report it gives the bad guys a better chance of getting away with it.”
Earlier this year, with support from the General Assembly, Yost created a Cyber Crimes Unit within the Bureau of Criminal Investigation to address the growing problems of cyber and financial crimes. The team, which is made up of specialists in cyber/crypto and financial crime, has already logged some notable successes, including helping to recover $17,619 for a 73-year-old woman who fell victim to a Bitcoin scam.
“The takeaway message is simple,” the Attorney General said. “Report the crime. There are people who can help.”
For assistance, training or more information about elder justice issues or to support a victim of abuse, neglect or financial exploitation, contact the Ohio Attorney General’s Office at 800-282-0515.
Highlights from the 2023 Ohio Elder Abuse Awareness Day
The Conference had a strong turnout with nearly 200 advocates and professionals joining together to learn about effective strategies for dealing with the growing problem of elder abuse. The 2023 conference focused on the role that trauma plays in the lives and circumstances of older adults and the importance of using trauma-informed approaches. We can all play a part in promoting Elder Justice for all older Ohioans.
Conference Take-Aways
- We explored the value of implementing the principles of trauma informed models of care when responding to allegations of elder abuse and crime victims.
- We increased our awareness of the various types of trauma informed models of care and the impact on older adults.
- Transformational trauma-informed organizations must represent a profound cultural shift that include the following:
- People and their conditions and behaviors are viewed differently
- Staff respond differently (clinical, clerical, security, custodial)
- The delivery of services is conducted differently
- There is no one-time training, but a shift in culture
Recorded Morning Session
(click image below to view the video)
Power Point Slide Decks
(click each link below to view the information)
Morning Plenary Session
From Research to Practice: Integrating Trauma Informed Responses to Elder Abuse, Shelly L. Jackson, PhD, Consultant, Elder Justice initiative, US Department of Justice
Afternoon Plenary Session
Control, Connection and Meaning: Trauma Competent Care, Kim Kehl, Project Manager, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services
Workshop One
Trauma-Informed Victim Services for Older Adults – PPT Handouts
Workshop Three
Understanding Domestic Violence in Later Life & Supporting Victims with Trauma-Informed Responses – PPT Handouts
Workshop Four
Exploring Why Researching Trauma-Informed Responses Matter for Older Adults - PPT Handouts
Resources: