Seniors Should Beware of Charity Scams

Published in the Pawtucket Times on October 1, 2001

Following on the heels of last month’s deadly terrorist attacks on the World trad towers and the Pentagon, AARP has issued a warning to seniors to watch out for scam artists seeking to make a fast buck on the horrific national tragedy.

The Washington, DC-based senior watchdog group urges older persons to be very cautious when responding to charitable solicitations. “In this time, we need to be alert to stop those who would divert charitable donations away from those who have been victimized by the tragedy in New York and Washington, DC., states Kathleen S. Connell, AARP’s Rhode Island Executive Director.

Charities have historically targeted seniors, Connell says, making seniors especially vulnerable to scam artists.  AARP research shows that, even in ordinary times, Americans age 65 and older receive more telephone and mail solicitations for charitable donations than any other age group. “Older Americans may become particularly receptive to appeals that benefit police and firefighters who were victims of the recent terrorist attacks,” Connell says.

According to AARP experts, charity scams may take various forms, but certain elements can be warning sign. Red flags indicating the signs of a scam include: the use of a similar sounding name that suggests a well-know charity; a request for your credit card number or cash; an offer to send someone to pick up your contribution; and failure of the solicitor to explain the charity’s administrative costs and programs.

Connell recommends that donations be given to recognized organizations such as the Red Fross or Salvation Army or any charitable groups that the giver is familiar with.

Are scam artists targeting Rhode Island seniors using the backdrop of a national tragedy for fraudulent charity appeals?  No, says Connell.  She is unaware of any scams in Rhode Island being directed specifically at seniors. “It appears that the public relations campaigns raising the visibility of telephone scams have been successful and seniors are being more than careful when making donations.

Jim Martin, spokesperson for the state Attorney General’s Office told All About Seniors, “There is no substantial evidence of any scam artists collecting money under the guise of a charity purporting to assist the victims of the Sept. 11th tragedy.”  If this occurred, he says, State Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse would not hesitate to use any means at his disposal to stop it and hold those who do it accountable.”

State charity regulator David Briden, of the Department of Business Regulation, also is not aware of any charity scams sweeping through the Ocean State targeting seniors.

Briden states that hundreds of charities raising money across the nation, soliciting funds for the victims of the terrorist attacks, his staff is attempting to monitor their efforts.

Briden urges seniors to take precautions when making a donation to charitable causes.  Write a check instead of using cash, making out the check to the organization. “Never give out your credit card number, Social Security number or any other personal information over the phone,” he says.

Weeks after the terrorist attack, contributions are pouring into the American Red Cross of Rhode Island. Individual and group contributions, from the Boy Scouts, neighborhood children who banded together to raise funds, to donate received from a growing number of major corporations, like Textron, Inc., and MetLife, have raised nearly $ 1 million for relief efforts, states Sara Bilossky, the group’s communication director.

Even with state regulators acknowledging little reporting of scam operations in Rhode Island, Bilossky is aware of a few callers who have contacted her agency attempting to determine if solicitation calls, they have received on behalf of the American Red Cross were really legitimate. But these calls quickly tapered off, she said.  Any donation to the American Red Cross can either be delivered directly to the nonprofit agency or mailed, she recommended, suggesting that donation checks to be made out directly to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.”

Hundreds of millions of dollars have ben raised nationwide by charities for the victims of the terrorist attacks and their families. It is the donor’s responsibility to make sure that his or her hard-earned money gets into the right hands. If solicited, always ask about the group’s fund-raising goals, find out how the collected money will be spent and request a list of the board of directors.  Does the group have written materials? Give smartly and generously.

For questions concerning charities that have been registered by the State of Rhode Island or to file complaints, call the state’s Department of Business Regulation at 401 222-3948.

Activity programming brings new life to nursing facilities

Published in The Times on September 24, 2001

Wheelchair bound Barbara Moniz, 59 doesn’t sit idly in her room twiddling her thumbs, or watching her four walls.  The resident at Orchard View Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center can attend a myriad of planned activities seven days a week, even during some evening hours too.  Once upon a time nursing facilities were known as places to warehouse the elderly.  Now many facilities are centers of life and activity.

Just one week ago, Moniz, a resident council present of the East Providence based nursing facility, along with 60 fellow residents traveled a quick 10-minute ride to a planned outing at Crescent Park Carousel.  Watching the carousel go round and round, and entranced by the lively music, the former Providence resident sat among 150 residents, families and facility staff, just enjoying herself.  Dietary staff provided the necessary nourishment – sandwiches, potato salad, potato chips, lot of popcorn and drinks.

Many years ago, Moniz lived right across the water from the carousel.  “You could always hear that music,” she fondly remembers, stating that she loved “riding those horses.” Now she has new memories of that carousel, like watching her 6-year old grandchild ride the horses, just the way she once did, lurching out the grab the rings.

Three full-time and one part-time staff, families and dozens of volunteers help with other outside getaways too, from taking the Newport Trolley Tour, picnics at Colt State Park and trips to Oakland Beach and Wickford Harbor.

Patricia Poissant’s, a 17-year veteran of Orchard View Manor’s activity department, has seen the facility’s activity calendar become jam-packed over the years.  Once no training was necessary for activity staff.  Now a 60-hour course offered by the University of Rhode Island is required for all activity staff, she says.

At the facility, 180 residents can learn quilting and crafts, and become physically active by playing balloon volleyball, chair dancing, and even take exercise and strength training programs scheduled three to four times a week.

“Residents can attend summer cookouts, sit on benches scattered throughout a large apple arbor, or even pick fresh vegetables from the facility’s garden,: Poissant says.  Each year East Providence residents look forward to the sampling of more than 500 apple pies sold throughout the community, all made by facility staff and residents.

According to Poissant, nursing facility residents can become active in a variety of facility-based clubs, organized for garden lovers, sports enthusiasts, naturists and even gourmet cooks.  Or they can cruise the internet.  Pictures of residents at outings and parties, with pets or children are sent out over the Web.  Computer savvy residents receive emails twice a day and can send back responses regularly.

Dobby the cat roams the halls, and five parakeets tweet and sing to residents as they are rolled in a big cage throughout the facility.  Residents can also be mesmerized by colorful fish swimming in salt and fresh water fish tanks.

Residents who can’t leave or choose to stay in their room have the opportunity for recreational activities too, Possaint tells All About Seniors.  For those avid current event followers, newspapers are delivered right to their rooms, and are available in the lobby and activity rooms.  Crossword puzzles, large print books and talking books for the blind are also made available.

Possaint states that staff even work with residents lying in a fetal position, going into their rooms to read, talk or even perform aromatherapy. “We want to make sure they are not forgotten or left out of activities,” she says.

Roberta Hawkins, state ombudsman and executive director of the Alliance for Better Long Term Care, is pleased to see the variety of activities offered by  orchard View Manor.  “Activity programming should not be just bingo,” he says, adding the quality of life can be experienced in good facilities like this.

Orchard View Manor, one of 30 nursing facilities participating in Building Bridges, is committed to intergenerational programming offered by the Alliance for Better Long Term Care.  While many nursing facilities only offer the programs monthly, Orchard View Manor along with a few other facilities go the extra mile by offering it every other week, Hawkins says.

At these activities young children are educated about the positives of growing older, Hawkins says, while the elders positively gain from the growing intergenerational relationship.  Additionally, the love that passes between the two generations is an unmeasurable benefit too, she says.

Hawkins recommends that before choosing a nursing facility one should learn more about its activity programming.  “Every facility has a different personality and some really put that extra effort into providing a total range of services, from health care to quality of life programming.”

Quality recreation programming is not being provided in many of the state’s 104 nursing facilities Hawkins stated.  “If offered, the programming would provide pleasure, physical. emotional and mental stimulation, not to mention the heart-warming human contact that is needed by the seniors with a wide variety of needs,” he adds.

WWII Vet Reflects on Terrorist Attacks

Published in Pawtucket Times on September 17, 2001

Using hijacked plans as deadly weapons, terrorists have brought death and destruction to the shores of our nation. Not since the American Civil War has this nation seen bombed out buildings or civilian causalities in its cities and towns. The United States may never be the same again.

Television has brought the horrors of a terrorist war up close to the American public, states 75-year-old World War II veteran Owen Mahony. In that war the nation was never directly hit, except Pear

l Harbor, he said.  The former Rhode Island assistant director of Mental Health, Retardation and Hospitals and former executive director of the United Way Organization in Rome and Niagara Falls, New York, saw extensive military action oversees from 1943 to 1946.

“During World War II civilians had little and no direct awareness of what was happening to the soldiers in the battlefields,” says Mahony, a long-time Warwick resident. “Of course, my family in Woonsocket lived through gasoline and food rationing. Those suffering the death of a loved one would signal this with a flag with a gold star, hung from their window,” he said.

The veteran of the Normandy D-Day landing saw a lot of terrible things in battle that his family did not   experience, Mahony told All About Seniors.  “They could look at the battles in the Pacific and Atlantic from afar,” he said, adding that at this time Americans really had little fear that the mainline would be attacked.

Today, it is a different world, Mahony quipped. “Everybody has either seen or visited the World Trad Center or the Pentagon. Or maybe they have flown on American or United Airlines,” he added. But through television, the vivid images of the horrific bloody acts of terrorism in New York City and Washington, DC, the way we view our world will forever change. “The terrorist war is here.”

Mahony, the father of 12 children, a grandparent to 29 very young grandchildren, many of whom are elementary school age, notes that it is most difficult to make sense of last week’s terrorist attack. With such a large family, he was on the phone for six hours tracking all his family down to make sure they were safe. “I was like the center of the communication hub, bringing the latest information so that everyone knew each other was safe.”

Meanwhile, some of his adult children took their youngsters out of school immediately after the attack so they could pray for those who lost loved ones. Throughout the evening, Mahony’s family and circle of friends, from their respective homes, offered prayers of Thanksgiving for those who made it safety out of the bombed-out Pentagon or World Trade Center, or to those who died and to their surviving loved ones.

“The biggest problem my children had was how to interpret their young children what is going on,” Mahoney stated, noting that several of his grandchildren were upset and crying at what they saw during the intensive news coverage. “How do you explain to young children how the hate of a terrorist brings the individual to plow a plane into a building.”

“The surprise attack will bring out the best of our people,” Mahony predicts, just like it did after Pearl Harbor.” Millions of other Americans are bringing comfort to their children and grandchildren, assuring them that even with evil people willing to kill innocent strangers for a fanatical cause, most people are good, he says. “We all know that love absolutely subdues evil.”