Ederly abuse happens more often than you think.
Thousands of cases are reported and investigated each year across the Valley.
It's a nightmare to be vulnerable and abused.
"There's a lot of people that have no one," said Debra Lachico from the Area Agency on Aging with the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council.
It's a scary thought to be susceptible to predators, but that's exactly what happened to one valley man suffering from dementia.
"This man was eventually wiped out, put in a nursing home and died with nothing," said Lachico.
She said an attorney who advertised himself as a financial advisor for senior citizens befriended an elderly man in Cameron County, gained his trust and convinced him to sign over his belongings.
When her organization heard about this case, they went to look for the attorney.
"We did have other people with us that convinced him to let us talk to the gentleman after talking to him, he agreed to revoke this durable power of attorney," she said.
But Lachico said the attorney told the elderly man, "If you revoke this, I will no longer be your friend."
"Which then the gentleman started crying. Broke down and cried and said no no no I want you to be my friend," she said. "So basically we couldn't do anything."
According to Adult Protective Services, there were over 103,000 reports of elderly abuse across the Lone Star State in 2010.
And that's only the abuse that gets reported.
In Hidalgo County alone, there were nearly 3,000 cases reported.
"We have been working for the last 12 months on bringing awareness in the Rio Grande Valley to the problem of elder abuse in our communities," said Solomon Torres, district director for the office of Congressman Ruben Hinojosa.
To help combat abuse, the elder abuse awareness task force will be handing out cards with phone numbers that you can call to report abuse.
The phone numbers include 11 hotlines ranging from the Adult Protective Services to the Better Business Bureau all so that the elderly and their loved ones can have easy access to these numbers.
The task force hopes making people aware that elder abuse is out there is the first step in stopping it.
Elder Abuse Awareness Task Force Hotlines:
211---Connects Texas residents with services
Adult Protective Services
1-800-252-5400
Medicare Fraud
1-888-341-6187 or 1-866-943-7289
Home Health Care and DME Businesses
1-800-458-9858 or 1-800-877-5300
Area on Aging
1-800-365-6131
Better Business Bureau
1-800-234-5056 or 956-969-1804
Local Police and Emergency Services
9-1-1
Social Security Administration
1-800-772-1213
VA Health Care Center Harlingen
956-430-9303
VA Outpatient Clinic McAllen
956-618-7100
Texas Attorney General
1-800-252-8011
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