Community Voices & County Partners: Spotlight on Elder Abuse Awareness (Part 2)

In Part Two of this special series focused on elder abuse awareness, we’re joined by Mario Wawrzusin from the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for a conversation about recognizing abuse and knowing when to take action. 

Mario provides an overview of DHHS Adult Protective Services (APS). He explains who they serve, the services they offer, and common misconceptions that can lead to confusion or hesitation. He walks listeners through the kinds of situations that may prompt a referral, how APS evaluates concerns, and what families can expect after making a report—including reassurance about anonymity and supportive, person‑centered outcomes. 

Building on the insights shared by Judith, Dolores, and Jane in Part One, Mario highlights the behavioral, physical, emotional, and financial red flags that often signal something isn’t right. He also discusses how APS works in partnership with the Office of Consumer Protection and the County’s annual World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) Older Adult Safety Forum event to enhance awareness and prevention efforts throughout Montgomery County. 

Have a question or suggestion for a future episode? Send an email to consumerconnection@montgomerycountymd.gov.

Transcript

WEAD And Why Awareness Matters

Michelle Escobar 0:10

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, also known as WEAD, is June 15th and a reminder that awareness is only the beginning. It's also a moment to better understand the supports in place for older adults and the dedicated professionals who work every day to protect them. That brings us to our guest, Mario Worzison from Montgomery County Adult Protective Services. Mario plays a key role in responding when concerns are raised, guiding families, assessing situations, and helping ensure adults who may be at risk get the support that they need. He's here to walk us through how APS steps in, what happens when someone makes a report, and how the county works to safeguard our community. Mario, welcome.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

Sure. It's a pleasure to be here. Michelle, it's you're a great partnership with the Office of Consumer Protection. I know your agency is out in the community doing education all the time, and we appreciate that collaboration. So, and also with uh the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, that's an international event. It's actually about 20 years old. The International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse, an international organization, started this. And they did that because this was a population that folks weren't necessarily paying attention to, be it physical or sexual harm, but more commonly self-neglect, someone who maybe had uh a stroke or Alzheimer's disease, uh, no longer can take care of themselves, uh, perhaps financial exploitation, neglect uh situations where a caregiver isn't really getting the job done. And uh so adult protective services tries to fill that gap. Um we have clinical social workers, we have three teams, in fact, very busy, uh, 4,500, 5,000 calls uh per year. And uh every day we it's a new challenge.

Michelle Escobar 2:10

And I'm really excited about this conversation because it's important to have it for our community. Um, so people know, our listeners know um what APS does to protect our vulnerable uh communities and um

What APS Does In Montgomery County

Michelle Escobar 2:25

how they can help support uh their families, the ones that they care about. Uh so thank you. Um and I and I love your introduction because I do uh what is your role? Tell me about what you do there.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

Sure, sure. So I'm a clinical social worker. I've been a social worker for many decades at this point. Uh it's a great field. So right now I'm in the senior administrative position uh working with our adult protective services, and really we have a whole continuum of care in addition to adult protective services, which generally is more short-term, but we have a continuing APS, we call it APS unit. We have a non-APS but important case management component, social services to adults. We have a home care program where we provide either through contractors or our county aides, folks that'll go in and help with personal care, showering, dressing, meal prep, things along those lines, like housekeeping. And then we have an adult foster care program and a public guardianship program. And we work very closely with the Department of Aging. We're all one department really, uh so in Montgomery County, and they have a lot of resources. We are my intake unit is co-located with the Aging and Disabilities Resource Unit, which uh the phone number I'll probably repeat more than once is 240-777-3000. If you ever have a question about anything related to aging and disability issues, including adult protective services.

How To Report And What Happens Next

Michelle Escobar 3:50

So you all have an abundance of referrals of where you can. So if if if I'm a family member or someone that I care about is a vulnerable adult and I I need help, um, what is what is the the process for that?

SPEAKER_02 4:04

Sure. So identify your issue and then call that 240-777-3000 line. You could call, you can send an email, but the call is better uh and have that discussion. And one of our program specialists will will uh with the aging and disabilities resource unit will take that call, discern if that's something that should go to our more clinical unit, which is where adult protective services are screened, or if they can in fact uh provide both the information, resources, will even uh assist with some applications and other uh linkages in the community. So by calling the 240-777-3000 line in Montgomery County, uh you could start that conversation.

Michelle Escobar 4:44

Okay, and is there a certain way that you evaluate um like that maybe someone who's reporting it should be aware of how you evaluate these concerns?

SPEAKER_02 4:52

Sure. So for adult protective services, since we're focused on that, um, to define it, the National Center for Elder Abuse uh discusses elder abuse as any intentional or neglectful act that uh may result in harm or does result in harm, which is done by a trusted individual, a caregiver, family member, uh, towards a like a frail elder or vulnerable adult. So adult protective services actually works with persons 18. I didn't know that when I first started. I was very shocked to be going into high schools again because I worked with kids initially as a social worker, uh, from 18 through 100 plus. But the truth is that folks 60 and older is our largest contingent of persons that we we service in adult protective services.

Michelle Escobar 5:39

But it can be any age, anyway.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

It can be any age, so long as uh the way uh the law sets it out, a vulnerable adult is defined as a person that's not able to take care of their activities of daily living, such as independently shower, get dressed, um, take care of their bills, maintain a home, uh, things along those lines. Could be because of if the older population lifetime, you might see cognitive cognitive deficits, could be uh cardiovascular issues, stroke, car accident, brain trauma, and younger folks, intellectual developmental disabilities, or accidents and other things that happen, uh, that that person now becomes a more dependent, which uh, if they're dependent and not getting the care they need for whatever reason, that's a possible call to APS. And then we always ask uh that you explain like who this person is, where are they at, what's the situation, there's other folks involved. We we want to gather as much information as possible so we can do an accurate screening. And those screens are done in our intake unit, and we have licensed clinical social workers that do those screens. And if if it's a positive screen, if we're gonna sign a case for an investigation because of uh possible uh sexual physical abuse, caregiver neglect, self-neglect, which we do the most of, over 50% of our cases are self-neglect or something, someone just cannot take care of themselves properly for whatever reason. And it's it's noted by a community member or so forth. And then financial exploitation, which is a second most common thing that

Risk Factors, Red Flags, Underreporting

SPEAKER_02 7:15

we're dealing with at this point.

Michelle Escobar 7:16

Yeah, so let's talk about red flags because I, for consumer protection, I know uh sense of urgency, um, asking to pay in in methods that aren't, you know, like cash pickup or cryptocurrency, unsolicited um uh phone calls or contacts to get your personal information. These are these are red flags that you know through consumer protection we we look for. So with um with adult protective services, are there any emotional, physical, uh, financial um red flags that you could discuss with us?

SPEAKER_02 7:49

So we there's a there's a a number of red flags. Um so in general, I will say some of the uh risk, risk factors. We'll start with that and we'll move into uh red flags. Risk factors is someone who's I already mentioned this. If you're dependent on another person for caregiving, handling, finances, things of that nature, that puts you in a little higher risk group. Um the older you are, uh the higher the odds are that there might be that need. And um, we find that some of our older adults uh are in vulnerable situations because they're more isolated. Perhaps they've lost a spouse, family's moved away, uh, things along those lines. And if they have uh uh some chronic illness, which is more likely as we get older, uh, that those are all risk factors. Another risk factor would be uh if you or your caregiver has a mental health challenge, substance use or substance abuse challenges, uh, those put folks in a higher risk category. So knowing all of that, and I will mention that uh I'm originally from New York, uh, the umpire state. So uh New York State did a study back in 2011 on the prevalence of uh elder abuse reporting, and it's self-reporting primarily that we're looking at, but uh the the the number of cases where the individual reports you know on a need that they have, you know, reports themselves, yeah, one in 24. I mean, you were only getting the tip of the iceberg there. And for financial exploitation, it's even less. It's one in 44. Uh and why is that? Embarrassment, fear, uh, you know, fear of losing control, fear of being someone's gonna take over my home, my finances, send me to a facility, I don't want to go to, those kinds of things. Uh, so we know that uh in the state of Maryland, we have uh uh mandated reporters, although we encourage the entire community to call us if you see something, say something. Uh, but mandated reporters are human service professionals like folks that work at my department, the Department of Health and Human Services for Montgomery County, um, medical professionals, and let's see, law enforcement, and then financial institutions. We have a number of laws on the books where if uh an investment firm or commercial bank notices that there's possible maltreatment or um exploitation, they're going to call the authorities, APS, uh, law enforcement, and or the state attorney's office. So once we is, I want to make sure I answer your question.

Michelle Escobar 10:26

Yeah. Oh, please. No, this is good. Uh all right. We need

Financial Exploitation And Bank Safeguards

Michelle Escobar 10:30

this information.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

So, yeah, yeah. So let's go with financial exploitation. Yeah. Um, uh, someone's spending patterns are changing, right? Uh, this is, and thank heavens the banks are monitoring this, this activity. So folks, you know, you know, they have a fixed income, they had set um expenses each month, and all of a sudden they're folk this individual uh is withdrawing $50,000 and investing or um buying gift cards or doing uh some things that they just didn't typically do, or gifting to another individual family member or caregiver or whomever. So the bank's gonna notice this change, and we have a new law that just passed, effective October uh 1st, where the banks, even commercial banks, will have the opportunity to put a pause or a hold on that transaction. And hopefully that individual has given a trusted contact or individual for the for the bank to reach out to. Otherwise, though, they are going to report it to Adult Protective Services, law enforcement, andor the state attorney's office. So it gives these investigatory agencies an opportunity to intervene. I do want to also add that in Montgomery County, and actually the folks that are um sponsoring the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day event on June 17th at the Schweinhouse Center, um, it's really the Montgomery County Elder Vulnerable Adult Abuse Task Force. So the state attorney's office chairs that uh particular group and the investigatory agencies and the folks that are out there seeing some of these issues, law enforcement, uh, fire and rescue. We have an adult protective services uh social worker and nurse embedded in emergency medical services, folks that drive those ambulances. Um, and I really like the work they do. I have a son who's an EMT firefighter uh in Virginia. So, and then we have our county attorney's office uh uh provide support to us and the Ombudsman Program, Adult Protective Services. So we come together at least monthly to discuss case situations and other policy, perhaps legislative issues, but we really focus on trying to do a collaborative, integrative approach to working with uh clients that you know reach or that are that contact us for for assistance.

Michelle Escobar 12:44

And I think the from what I've what I've I've experienced through um speaking to different people, it's um this financial exploitation happens to the older adults, which it could happen to anybody, but it happens to the older adults because they happen to have the savings for it. They happen to have the money to, you know, uh unfortunately get later get caught up if in a scam or something, and then they're able to pay out all this money. So this law that just passed is just it's it's excellent um when in the fact that you can that a bank can kind of give that pause and give that time. But what I wanted to ask is the approach. I know that the approach is really important um with some of these folks because they, from what I've heard, a lot of them believe um the scammer over the FBI, over the police department, over the

Trust, Power Dynamics, Capacity Checks

Michelle Escobar 13:40

bank. So, so the approach is really important. Um, can you talk a little bit on that?

SPEAKER_02 13:46

Well, that's why we're fortunate to have uh uh essentially advanced uh licensed degree, uh social workers for the most part doing this work. Plus, we have a couple of uh registered nurses. So we have an ability to A, you want to establish a rapport, build some trust, and do some education um during your assessment. And we're gonna do a full biopsychosocial assessment of stuff we learn in social work school. So um, but the key really is establishing that relationship and trying to break through that, it's really becomes a barrier. And then why does this happen? Folks are lonely. Maybe they're a recent widow or widower, and the and these um scammers are just or they know this, they're trying to establish a relationship. So um there's different terms out there for that. But once that relationship's established, they're gonna actually sow seeds. And this could be in-person, this could be a caregiver. You know, we've had cases where the caregiver endears themselves to that individual, the ones they're taken care of, and then they isolate them from their own family members, saying, Oh, they just want your money. You don't want to work with them. Let's work together. And then over time, it's a power dynamic. Some of the some of the control uh power dynamics you might see in intimate uh partner violence or domestic violence, um, we see in adult protective services. So there's this shifting, there's a dependency, there's a fear of reprisal, and and all of these things, and they're trusting someone that uh they won't even necessarily believe that you know that all these tens of thousands of dollars, be it an investment um scam or be it a romance scam, uh, isn't benefiting them. Uh so it's a tough cookie to crack. Uh, we will also do capacity evaluations to determine does that individual really understand? Do they have, has there been some cognitive deficits that's preventing them from understanding uh the full dynamics of their financial situation? Yeah.

Michelle Escobar 15:43

And all that is so important. But what's even I think more important in order for you to have access to be able to help people is for the community to be to get involved, get involved, um, know your neighbors, um, report it. Um just because if we don't have the community, if we don't if if it it takes the village, and if we don't have the village participating and looking out for one another, then um, you know, things are gonna fall through the cracks.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

I wholeheartedly agree. And even though the community, you know, neighbors are not mandated reporters, we want you to, you know, to report it. Uh call us uh with your concerns. If this new car keeps, you know, showing up, staying overnight, pulling into this driveway, and the older adult is not going to get the newspaper, get their mail anymore. Um, the shades are drawn, grasses get a little high, uh, place looks like it's in disrepair. That that should concern you, and that's worth a call, you know, just to explain, okay, who this person is, where they live, and what what you've noticed, and any information that you might have. And so, yeah, we can have that discussion in our screening, you know, and um for adult protective services to engage, if it's a vulnerable adult, if it's someone that's at risk of uh that could be neglect, could be exploitation, could be a lot of different things. Don't even know because you're not seeing the person. Um, that that's the type of call we want to hear about. And that individual's probably not going to call us themselves. Yeah. Might be afraid, may not even have a means to do that. We've had situations where people take the cell phone um from the individual. They have no way to communicate.

Michelle Escobar 17:23

And for those that maybe, hey, I don't want to get involved, I don't want any problems, are they able to report anonymously? Is there a process?

SPEAKER_02 17:32

Yeah, I'm glad you asked that question. My notes, anonymous reporting. So no, every everyone that calls, it's anonymous. Uh we want to respect their anonymity. Folks don't want to um, you know, damage a relationship with their with a neighbor, a loved one, and you know, and so that's what we do. And and investigators inevitably are asked, how did you hear about this? And uh so on and so forth. And we just say that that is confidential. We just by law are not going to um discuss that. You know, but how are you doing?

Michelle Escobar 18:05

Right. That's good. No, that's great to know because um some people, you know, they're afraid too. They're like, I went on and get involved. But the fact that they can remain anonymous and still um participate in in reporting something suspicious, maybe something dangerous, then that's that's great. Um let's um is there anything else that you wanted to add? Before we move on to the we add, because I really go we add.

SPEAKER_02 18:33

Um that's fine. Yeah.

Michelle Escobar 18:36

Okay, because no, if there's something else that because I think APS um uh provides a service that that really the community needs um so much. And and the the fact that you have this abundance of of referrals and and services that you can refer people to is is amazing.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

Yeah, I I guess one thing I will say is just demographically in the United States, folks are are getting older, which is a good thing, uh, you know, for the most part. Folks are you know, probably staying more healthy, a little exercise. Um, and you know, the more older adults there are, and right now Montgomery County is hovering between 23, 24 percent, 60 and older, and it's gonna creep up a little bit higher in 2030. Uh there's just the the more likelihood that someone's gonna you know need help. Yes. And um so you know, so we're mindful of that from a demographic standpoint. That's why we we're trying to staff up appropriately, you know, for that.

Michelle Escobar 19:32

Of course. And no, we're we're all gonna be there. You know, someday we're all there. We're we're getting old, we're all gonna get older, we're all gonna need support from somebody. So, yes.

WEAD Event Details, Skits, Resources

Michelle Escobar 19:45

Um, so we add, I know it's a a call to action um on preventing elder abuse, uh, the awareness. Um, so let's talk about how um how what it what is it about?

SPEAKER_02 19:59

Right, this is our 16th annual. So we really appreciate the uh partnership with the Office of Consumer Protection. Um, just in terms of the logistics, it's gonna be on Wednesday, June the 17th at the Schweinhout Senior Center, the oldest senior center in Maryland, the first senior center in Maryland, which is pretty cool. Yes in Silver Spring Wheaton area, not too far from Holy Cross Hospital, Farrusquin Road. So that's great. And uh the Department of Rec is always terrific to work with. We've for the last number of years, we've been going to um senior centers to have these programs. Why? Because that's where older adults are. So, and I even qualify, I'm told. So um, so it'll be there 10 to 11:30 on that day, get there a little bit early. We'll have 25 or so resource tables, different exhibitors, uh, lots of different information, folks, folks with the county and some with the state, and some also nonprofits that provide services that should be a support if needed uh for individuals. And uh really exciting, and this is really an idea from one of your staff, Maurice Valentine, uh, to have the the older adults do skits, do three three-minute pieces that they um write, produce uh on their own. We have a couple staff on our planning committee that are really terrific with experience in public information and and media and broadcast and so forth. So we work together um uh and we'll have a several skits that will show during the event recorded, which will intersperse with our speakers. We're gonna have the state attorney's office as our keynote. Um, you know, oftentimes we have county elected officials there. I'm told they're gonna be there this year's election year. So uh I'm sure they'll be there. Our sheriff's always there, police chiefs there, uh, fire rescue, uh officer, management, homeland security, and talking about different things you can do to keep safe.

Michelle Escobar 21:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:56

Yeah, smoke alarms, uh carbon dioxide alarms, all those things. So uh it's a great, it's a great day. Um we'll have some skits. We're also introducing an art poster contest. So we've asked, there's seven main senior centers that the county runs working in collaboration with our community centers, rec rec centers. So a number of those um facilities will submit a poster um uh just trying to raise awareness because truly the awareness piece really the prevention is so much more important than uh you know than having to go in and try to resolve things. If we can stop things, you know, before they get out of hand, that would be that's terrific. So that's what our whole goal is. And um, when the older adults themselves are doing the educating, I think it's even more effective. And we also do it in depending on who's who submits. We've had skits in Vietnamese, we had them in Spanish, we'll do some subtitles, and um, that's kind of cool too.

Michelle Escobar 22:53

So it just sounds to me like everyone needs to be there. There's something for everyone.

SPEAKER_02 22:58

Yes. I know we have a maximum capacity.

Michelle Escobar 23:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

And we're all, you know, uh, if you're interested, that's terrific. If you're 60 and older, you can sign up for a free lunch as long as the lunch is last. So you gotta sign up by calling um the Schweinhouse uh phone number 240-777-8085. Or if you go to the Schweinehouse Center, you could say, I'm interested in attending. I'd love it's just gonna be a box lunch, but it'll be you know, it's just an added uh piece. And I'm hoping the Social Security Administration will join us for a little class at one o'clock. Uh, I know they're very busy. Um, but uh uh Diana Varella, who's uh an outreach person for SSA, uh, I hope will come as well.

Michelle Escobar 23:42

And it's no, and it just sounds to me, I imagine um if if if you have a family member or a friend who who is active at the Schweinhaus Senior Center, well, that's your opportunity to go there too.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

Absolutely, yes. Oh yeah. Yeah, it's great staff, great uh great facility, good pro you're very busy, a lot of good programming. So we had to carve this out, but they're glad to do it. Um yeah, so it's great to be.

Michelle Escobar 24:06

And and when for the skits, do they do the skits there live or is it with the video?

SPEAKER_02 24:10

So it's already been recorded. Uh so uh either either they record on their, you know, um iPhones um or other portable devices, but we also did some filming at uh Montgomery Community Media because one of our volunteers, he's a retired ombudsman um person she directs, produces, and so forth. So she did some pieces. We also have uh, I call them public service uh announcements, some 30-second pieces um that we filmed. So our partners with Fire Rescue, you all, APS, and then Rec did did some stuff, and also a couple older adults did some too. Some of our veteran actors and actresses. Yeah.

Michelle Escobar 24:53

Is this the the sk so the the the public service announcement that when this is the first year you've done we've never done that before?

SPEAKER_02 25:00

Okay, that's really we've never done that before, we never did the art contest before. So that's that's new.

Michelle Escobar 25:05

Yeah. The skit, is this the third year?

SPEAKER_02 25:08

At least third. Okay. We have a bunch of good skits. I mean, it's just amazing some of the material uh people produce.

Michelle Escobar 25:14

What has been the response from the community?

SPEAKER_02 25:16

Oh, they love it. So I yeah, it's just it's great. You know, so um folks sign release forms. I've actually shared it. Um we're members of the National Adult Protective Services Association. I shared that with them and they love it. Yeah, it's because we're teaching one another. Yes.

Michelle Escobar 25:33

And it's a lighter way to bring the message across, but it really is a serious message. It really is a good idea.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

It is a serious, yeah. So I've always I know it's a serious message. And when we first started 16 years ago, we didn't get uh much of a response. And so it it you you we always try to keep it a little bit lighter where we can. Um, you know, do the giveaways, do the free lunch, um meet the people where they're at, type of thing. Um, but yeah, it's important to get this word out. So and we do we don't just do this once a year. We're the all of you, all of us, all the county agencies are going out doing um trainings and community engagement and so forth on a regular basis, which is really important so that so the community knows who we are. Yeah. We're not just some government agency. And you know, when you think of cultural things, some folks for good reason may be a little nervous about uh government. So we want to show them that in Montgomery County, we're here to serve um all residents.

Michelle Escobar 26:28

Yeah, no, and it is an everyday thing for all of us and every one thing. Anything

Hotlines, Next Steps, Stay Connected

Michelle Escobar 26:35

else, Mario, that you'd like to um any final thoughts?

SPEAKER_02 26:39

Sure. So I I would just say if you see something, you know, say something. Yeah. And uh for us, calling that 240-777-3000 line uh is the way to go. So the state also, I guess I should mention the state does have a hotline number too, a 1-800-91 prevent. So that is a way to reach adult protective services, not only in Montgomery County, but anywhere in the state of Maryland.

Michelle Escobar 27:05

All right. And so then we're gonna have a link to please share that link for the uh the skit and and these phone numbers, we'll have them available for the listeners. And um thank you for sharing all this knowledge with us today. And thank you again, Judith, Dolores, and Jane for bringing such heart and energy to part one of this series. As we recognize we add, we encourage everyone listening to stay aware, look out for one another, and reach out to County Resources whenever something doesn't feel right. Protecting of vulnerable adults, including our older adults, truly takes all of us. Thank you for joining us for this special two-part series of consumer connection. We'll see you next time. Don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and keep an eye out for upcoming episodes where we'll continue to bring you important updates and insights on consumer protection. Have a topic in mind for a future episode or a question for our team? Drop us an email at consumerconnection at Montgomery CountyMD.gov. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with your friends and family and stay in the loop with OCP by searching the hashtag MCGOCP on social media. Remember, knowledge is key for safeguarding your consumer rights. Stay informed, stay protected, and stay connected. Until next time.