New online courses to help you recognize and report elder abuse

Did you know that all VCH staff are required by law to receive and investigate reports of suspected abuse, neglect and self-neglect of vulnerable older adults? Elder abuse is the abuse or neglect of older adults be it due to restraint, mobility, cognition, mental illness, injury or other conditions. All incidents must be reported and followed up in accordance with the Adult Guardianship Act.

Online course for all staff

The course “ReAct: Act on Adult Abuse and Neglect – It’s Your Duty ” is a self-paced online course on LearningHub that is open to VCH health care staff. It teaches you to recognize, report and act on abuse, neglect and self-neglect of vulnerable adults.

Upon completing this module, you should be able to:

• Define physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and financial abuse and describe the indicators.
• Define neglect and self-neglect and describe the indicators.
• Identify the risk factors which make adults more likely to experience abuse, neglect, and self-neglect.
• State and explain what VCH’s role is as a Designated Agency under the Adult Guardianship Act.
• State and explain what your role is as a VCH employee to recognize and report adult abuse and neglect, and describe the steps you must take when you become aware of a situation.

Go to LearningHub and search for “ReAct: Act on Adult Abuse and Neglect – It’s Your Duty.”

Online course for managers

The course “ReAct Adult Protection Essentials for Managers” is a self-paced online course that provides a high-level overview of the responsibilities of health care leaders with respect to abuse, neglect or self-neglect of vulnerable adults and supports leaders to develop protocols for responding in local program areas and learn about ways to support available for designated responders.

To gain the most from this course and to learn more about the Adult Guardianship Act, please complete the introductory ReAct: Act on Abuse and Neglect: It’s Your Duty before enrolling in this course.

Go to LearningHub and search for “ReAct Adult Protection Essentials for Managers.”

For more information

VCH’s Adult Protection Framework and Adult Protection Policy (access to PDFs requires a VCH computer) detail the various roles and responsibilities of employees and recommended educational supports to get the right amount of information to the right staff.

Visit the ReAct Adult Protection Program intranet site (access to site requires a VCH computer) or contact us at react@vch.ca.