Bullying is traditionally an issue dealt with in middle and high schools but what about inside senior citizen centers? Butler County Area Agency on Aging Administrator Beth Herold says yes.
Herold said she started hearing complaints of ‘senior bullying’ about five years ago and it’s since escalated.
“People not being inclusive, being very judgmental, the ‘dirty whispering’, being very excluding like ‘we don’t want her playing cards with us,’” Herold said.
Herold said in many cases, people are coming to a senior center or into a nursing facility after the death of a spouse and are craving social interaction. “They should be accepted,” Herold said.
This is not just a Butler County problem. Herold says administrators across the state are seeing it.
More than 50 seminars have been held statewide to combat the issue and offer tactics on how to deal. Seminars will be held inside each of Butler County’s eight senior centers within the next few weeks.
