Governor Pat Quinn has issued a proclamation that July is Elder Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month and the Illinois Department on Aging is raising awareness through its annual campaign.  Elder abuse refers to a negligent act, such as physical, sexual, emotional, confinement, passive neglect, willful deprivation, or financial exploitation by a caregiver or another person known by the victim that causes harm or a serious risk of harm to a vulnerable adult 60 years of age or older.  IDoA operates a 24 hour hotline for the purpose of reporting the abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation of an eligible adult.  The number for the 24 hour Adult Protective Services Hotline is 866-800-1409.  It is estimated about five percent of older adults fall victim to abuse each year.  With more than two million older adults, ages 60 and older in Illinois, that means 100,000 fall victim to some form of elder abuse each year.  There are some specific indicators that may help point to abuse and those include untreated injuries, bruises, burns, sprains or dislocations, scratches and cuts, sudden changes in behavior, unusual depression and/or withdrawal in social settings, tense relationships/frequent arguments with the caregiver or a caregiver’s refusal to allow visitors, dehydration, unusual weight loss, poor hygiene, untreated health problems, unsafe living conditions and sudden financial changes like bank account/practices, additional names on victim’s bank signature card, unauthorized withdrawal of victim’s funds using victim’s ATM/credit card, & abrupt changes on a will or other financial documents.  IDoA has documented an increase in the number of reported cases and in Fiscal Year 2013, IDoA received 11,756 reports.  For more information, log on to the website at www.state.il.us/aging/.