CULLMAN, Ala. – Candie Cummings is on a mission to shine a light on one of the darkest forms of abuse in our community: elder abuse. She, along with her sisters Brandie Drane and Charlotte Jones and friend Jennifer Young, organized Cullman’s inaugural Elder Abuse Prevention Awareness event, which hosted several nonprofit agencies like the Cullman County Commission on Aging and Victim Services of Cullman, and representatives from government agencies like the Cullman County Department of Human Resources and Cullman County Sheriff’s Office.
While World Elder Abuse Awareness Day happens annually on June 15, the advocacy-centered event was the first of its kind in Cullman County. Cummings said it can only get bigger and better.
“Nobody had ever done anything like that in Cullman before! That was the first, and we definitely plan to make it an annual thing,” she said. “Next year we’ll have even more, like resources that can not only help in this but in their everyday life.”
For Cummings, the motivation for such an event was a deeply personal one, because elder abuse is something her family has experienced. During the event, Cummings spoke about Harold’s Law, or Duty to Render Aid in Alabama. Harold’s Law is something the sisters hope becomes a reality in Alabama in order to stop preventable elder abuse and neglect deaths. Harold’s Law is named in honor of their dad Harold Jones, who Cummings said was a victim of elder abuse.
“My heart said to do something for these senior citizens, so I did!” she said.
To learn more about Harold’s Law, visit www.change.org/p/duty-to-render-aid-in-alabama.
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