With Door County having the oldest population in the state, local agencies are looking to help curb concerns over elder abuse. Milly Gonzales from Help of Door County says elder abuse is usually the more hidden and underreported type of domestic abuse. She says it can come in many forms of power, control, and manipulation.
Gonzales adds that elder abuse can be done by someone else in the home outside of the family, like a caretaker. She notes that red flags can include signs of depression including less social involvement and personal upkeep. A Wisconsin Incident Tracking System showed that over 86 percent of Door County’s 226 reported elder abuse cases in 2018 were from self-neglect.
