Sunday, June 16, 2013

June 15 - World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

(Today's post is a day late, due to Centennial Activities, and a very busy Programmer. Sorry for the delay!)


The International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse was founded in 1997, dedicated to the global dissemination of information as part of its commitment to worldwide prevention of elder abuse. As part of INPEA's research agenda, the first World Elder Abuse Awareness Day was held on June 15, 2006, in collaboration with interested individuals, agencies, organizations, NGOs, governments, and corporations.


Those who have offered significant and continuing support are: The International Association of Gerontology, the World Health Organization, the International Federation of Aging, Help Age International, Pan American Heath Organization, the Subcommittee on Elder Abuse of the UN NGO Committee on Aging, International Longevity Center, American Association of Retired Persons, Canadian Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse, and the Ontario Seniors Secretariat/Government of Ontario.

Every year, an individual is selected to be a recipient of the International Rosalie Wolf Memorial Award, for "demonstrating dedication and commitment to the ideals of Rosalie Wolf to prevent and reduce elder abuse and promote awareness through one or more of the following: research, education, policy, practice".

Seen above: Dr. Tavengwa Nhongo, recipient of the 2006 International Rosalie S. Wolf Memorial Award.

Rosalie was called the "mother of the elder abuse field", leading for the Administration on Aging the evaluation of the very first demonstration projects on elder abuse interventions in 1980. She founded the Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect in 1989, was remains the only scholarly publication on elder abuse and neglect in the United States. She went on to form the International Network on the Prevention of Elder Abuse, which she chaired until her death.

Elder abuse is an ugly thing, and silence only makes it worse. Today, we stop for a moment to appreciate the elders in our lives, and respect what they have lived through and for.




Today is also Magna Carta Day, Nature Photography Day, the Wicket World of Croquet Day, World Juggling Day, and Worldwide Day of Giving!

Here are some interesting things that happened on this day in history:

- Assyrians recorded a solar eclipse that would be used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history in 763 BC.
- Austria used paper currency for the 1st time in 1762.
- 2 French balloonists died in the world's 1st fatal aviation accident in 1785.
- Slave Josiah Henson, who escaped to Canada in 1830 and founded the Black settlement for American fugitive slaves, was born in Charles County, Maryland in 1789.


- Historian François-Xavier Garneau, considered by some to be the greatest writer of 19th-century French Canada, was born in Québec City in 1809.
- The Oregon Boundary Treaty was signed in 1846, establishing the boundary between British North America and the US at 49° north latitude, leaving Vancouver Island in British hands, and creating a settlement with which Canada and the US could live in harmony.
- Soldier and former slave, Henry Ossian Flipper became the 1st African American to graduate from West Point Military Academy in 1877.


- Sherlock Holmes began his adventure, "Stockbroker's Clerk" in 1889.
- The World Congress for Women's Rights opened in Amsterdam in 1908.
- J. Edgar Hoover assumed leadership of the FBI in 1924.


- The French Canadian interns of Notre-Dame Hospital went on strike in 1934, which lasted until June 19. The strike, now known as the Days of Shame, was triggered by an anti-Semitic response to the appointment of a Jewish doctor, Sam Rabinovitch, as senior intern.
- The CCF won the Saskatchewan provincial election in 1944, with Thomas C. Douglas as premier. It was the first socialist government in North America.


- John Lennon (15) and Paul McCartney (13) met for the 1st time as Lennon's rock group Quarrymen performed at a church dinner in 1956.
- Canada's first space vehicle, a 11.3 kg non-orbiting instrument package, was launched from Wallops Island, Virginia in 1962.
The Arts of the Raven, a path-breaking exhibit of First Nations art, opened at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1967. For the first time, Aboriginal art was presented as art, not artifact.
- John Lennon & Yoko Ono planted an acorn at the Conventry Cathedral in 1968.
- In 1982, the Supreme Court ruled that all children, regardless of citizenship, are entitled to a public education.
- Russian space probe Vega 2 landed on Venus in 1985.
- Holley Rubinsky won the inaugural Journey Prize for her collection of short stories, Rapid Transits in 1989.
- Disney's "The Lion King," opened in theaters in 1994.


- The G-7 nations met at Halifax in 1995. Boris Yeltsin joined in the political talks as events in Bosnia and Chechnya dominated discussions.
- Over 120 000 people gathered on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls to watch stuntman Nik Wallenda scale the massive waterfall on a tightrope in 2012.


Stay tuned for our next, "On This Day in History"!

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