Signs of abuse against the elderly is an additional criterion that New York's doormen are being enlisted to look out for, the Associated Press reported.
A stranger picking up the mail, the sudden presence of a rarely seen relative with an attitude, or a bruise are some signs that the doormen are being trained to identify and report.
"Doormen know everything that's going on," Joy Solomon said before conducting a training session for doormen, porters and other apartment workers. "They know who's going in, who's going out. They have access and they have a relationship of trust. They're a friendly face."
According to the AP, a grant-funded program to help doormen spot various kinds of elder abuse - physical, sexual, psychological and financial has been launched by Solomon, director of the Weinberg Center for Elder Abuse Prevention at the Hebrew Home in the Bronx, in partnership with the building workers' union.
Others such as Meals-on-Wheels delivery workers have been included in the training as an effort to broaden the circle of people who come in contact with isolated seniors. Having been started several years ago, an online version is being worked on that could spread its message throughout the union's coverage area, from Massachusetts to Florida, the AP reported.
Every new set of eyes counts as the extent of elder abuse is impossible to know without the help of detection, The National Center for Elder Abuse said.
Only about 4 percent of elder abuse incidents in New York are reported, Solomon quoted from a 2011 study.
As an example of what can happen, Solomon narrated an incident of a woman whose son stole her prosthetic leg and sold it for drug money.
"It got him money and it kept her isolated and dependent on him," Solomon said, adding that the man eventually drove the elderly woman into poverty and she now lives in a shelter.
This is an idea that can work, Javier Rosa, who works the 11 p.m.-to-7 a.m. shift at a building, said.
"There's an old lady, sometimes she comes down late at night, she just wants to talk," Rosa said. "She knows I'm here, she has nobody else, she trusts me. If something was wrong, I would know. I would never let anything happen to her."
"If you think something is going on, you're probably right," Solomon said.
Signs of physical decline, mental confusion and depression, which can increase a tenant's vulnerability should be an immediate alert signal for workers, Solomon said.
According to the AP, apart from the elderly person's own relatives, perpetrators can also be bank workers, telemarketers and street scammers. Elderly Americans lose $2.9 billion each year to financial abuse, A MetLife Mature Market Institute study reported.
Solomon said that a doorman can bring the mail directly to the tenant if there is suspicion that someone is stealing a Social Security check. Likewise, mention it to a tenant if a daughter walks out with a painting.
"You might say, 'I saw your daughter going out with a painting,' and if she says 'What painting?' you know she's unaware."
Calls can be made anonymously to the city's Adult Protective Services agency if some workers are concerned that they could risk their jobs by reporting an unconfirmed suspicion, the AP reported.
Gene Kastner, manager of the building where the training took place, said he understands the vulnerability of the elderly from his time as a New York City police detective.
"We like to think of all our tenants as one big family," he said," and this is what a good family would do."
It was comforting to know workers are looking out for her, Hope Iaccaci, a 73-year-old resident living alone in the building, said.
"It's a great city for the elderly but it's great that in your own building there's that extra layer of protection."
