MILWAUKEE _ The Helen Bader School of Social Welfare’s Office of Applied Gerontology is presenting the forum “Older Adults & Hoarding: Where Do We Go From Here” ahead of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day on June 15. Hoarding is defined as a compulsion to accumulate items that might often be considered useless or worthless by others, accompanied by an inability to discard the items without distress.

About 1 in 10 of Americans ages 65 and older experience elder abuse, neglect or exploitation, according to the federal Administration for Community Living. UWM professor Colleen Galambos, the Helen Bader Endowed Chair in Applied Gerontology, says neglect is a form of elder abuse, and that hoarding is considered a form of self-neglect.

When: Thursday, June 13, from 8:30 a.m.-noon

Where: Bader Philanthropies, Inc., 3300 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Milwaukee, WI 53213

Presenter: Carla Alejo, director, In-Home Support Services and the Hoarding Intervention and Treatment Program, Catholic Charities Milwaukee

Panelists: Mark Silverman, attorney, Legal Action of Wisconsin; Elizabeth Johnson, in-home therapist, Hoarding Intervention and Treatment Program, Catholic Charities Milwaukee; Liz Oettiker, Elder Abuse Program
coordinator, Milwaukee County Department on Aging