Each day in Massachusetts, there are 54 reports of suspected elder abuse (20,000 per year), according figures reported in 2011 by Mass Home Care, an elder services advocacy group. In Boston alone, there were over 7,000 cases of suspected elder abuse reported from 2008 to 2012, according to Ethos, who is responsible for Protective Services for the city of Boston.

June 15th is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. To mark the occasion, Ethos staff, volunteers and a dedicated group of seniors staged a unique demonstration at Roche Bros. supermarket in West Roxbury; a flash mob, to draw attention to the physical, emotional or sexual abuse, financial exploitation, neglect, abandonment or self-neglect that many senior secretly face.

The first of its kind in the Boston-area to feature seniors; the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) flash mob was planned and rehearsed for weeks by Ethos and the seniors in order to grab people’s attention. We think it did!

Please join us in spreading the word about this video and help make it go VIRAL!

Please, send it to your friends, family, neighbors and co-workers. Post it on you Facebook page or Tweet it; anything to let it be known that elder abuse is a serious issue and that there are organizations like Ethos, and dedicated members of the community, that are willing to take a stand against it.