Blogs

An elderly California woman is suing her son for allegedly appropriating her $51 million lottery winnings.

Etta May Urquhart, 76, claims her son Ronnie Lee Orender has used her winnings to fund his own life of luxury.

It is claimed that he spent $2.3 million on four houses, bought at least ten vehicles and a boat and made cash gifts of $350,000 to his daughters. He also invested millions of dollars of the winnings which his mother is unable to touch.

Tameside hospital is to charge disabled drivers to park.

Blue badge holders must now pay £2 for an hour’s stay, £3 for two hours, £4.30 for four hours and £6 for over four.

Disabled motorists have attacked the move as ‘unfair’ and ‘ridiculous’ saying it would make trips to hospital even more difficult.

New figures suggest that half of all Scottish care home residents suffer from dementia.

Around 16,000 Scots were diagnosed as having the illness in 2011 – a rise of two thirds in under a decade.

Official figures show that the disease already afflicts around 82,000 Scots and is expected to double over the next 25 years.

It comes in the wake of repeated claims that dementia sufferers in Scottish care homes are being drugged to make them easier to manage.

Thousands of people who receive their state pension or benefits by cheque will soon have to collect it from a local shop instead as Giro cheques will be scrapped from summer.

This means instead of queuing to collect benefits from a post office, people will be given a plastic card to be present at a PayPoint, typically found in shops such as Spar and Costcutter and garages. They will then be given their money.

Some consumer groups are worried the new system will leave older pensioners vulnerable to crime.

Telephone fraudsters claiming to be from fictional Government Departments have been  targeting elderly people in West Sussex.

The scammers claim their elderly victims are owed thousands of pounds and ask for money to cover ‘administration’ costs.

Sussex Police said a number people had already been targeted in Chichester and three had lost money. One man was conned out of £2800.

One of the cons involved a person saying he was from the Ministry of Finance in Manchester, which doesn’t exist.

June 15^th will be World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2012.

Action on Elder Abuse estimates around nine per cent of elderly people experience some kind of abuse within either the familial or the care setting, including physical, psychological, financial and sexual, largely resulting from dependency, poverty or discrimination.

For more information on World Elder Abuse Awareness Day events in your area, fundraising ideas, training or volunteering go to www.elderabuse.org.uk    

Fans of television soap Emmerdale have taken to avoiding actor John Middleton as a result of an elder abuse storyline on the show.

The actor, plays vicar Ashley Thomas who has been mistreating his elderly father.

Middleton said he hopes the storyline will encourage people in the same situation as his character to seek help.

Middleton said: "People are avoiding me. My own mother doesn't like what's happening.

Pinpointing cafes, libraries, parking facilities and other services with disabled access just got easier following the launch of a new smartphone application.

The free ‘My Disabled Go’ app was designed by disabled rights charity Disabled Go, in partnership with London local authorities and community groups.

My Disabled Go will provide online guides and listings on a range of accessible facilities in the Richmond area and will also feature more than 100,000 venues from across the United Kingdom.

For details, visit disabledgo.com.

A Teesside Judge has jailed three young men who attacked a disabled man in his home.

Metin Ucarcan, 19, and Mark Todd, 18, were sentenced to six years and Stevie O'Neill, 22, to five years following a terrifying raid last September.

Ucarcan and Todd burst into the Darlington home of a vulnerable 59-year-old man while O'Neill acted as a look-out .

A knife wielding Todd then told the wheelchair bound victim he would be killed unless he gave them money.

They fled empty-handed when the man, who suffers from a neurological disorder, pulled a panic cord.

Psychiatrists will be working at North Staffordshire's Accident & Emergency to identify and help patients whose illness could be as a result of a mental health problem.

The aim is to ensure people who may have tried to harm themselves by taking an overdose do not leave hospital without being offered extra mental health support.

The scheme, known as Rapid Assessment Intervention and Discharge, will be evaluated at the end of April to see whether it will be made permanent.