January 3, 2012

(JTA) — A Jewish retirement community in Ohio has opened what it is calling the state’s first shelter for abused elderly.

The Shalom Center for Elder Abuse Prevention opened Jan. 1 in the non-profit Cedar Village Retirement Community in Mason, near Cincinnati.

Abused seniors from four counties — Hamilton, Warren, Butler and Clermont — will be allowed an emergency stay of 90 to 120 days, during which they will have access to the community’s activities as well as medical care, the center said in a news release.

“As a faith-based organization, our commitment to the community and to our elders reaches far beyond our walls,” Carol Silver Elliott, Cedar Village’s CEO and president, said in a statement. “This is our obligation and part of our social and community responsibility.”

According to a 2004 study published in The Lancet, a leading medical journal, 2 percent to 10 percent of elderly have endured some kind of abuse, with the range due to  studies using different definitions of abuse and survey methods.

Cedar Village is providing the seed money for the center and has applied for grant proposals.

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