There are a few common factors in most, if not all, retirement and convalescent communities. First is that residents are charged an "arm and a leg" to live at these facilities. Second is the pay scale of the staff employed to care for these residents.

I personally could not do this type of work, no matter how much you paid me. The staff in these facilities are required to bathe, feed and clean up after residents, sometimes involving horrific personal hygiene messes, to put it nicely. This has to be the most outrageously underpaid profession on Earth.

As a result, you end up with a high percentage of uncaring employees with attitudes when you want caring people who are concerned about the welfare of the residents. If elder abuse is ever going to be curbed, the employee pay scale is going to have to reflect the exorbitant cost of living at these facilities.

-- Pete Zenz, Middleton

Spiritual lives of elderly are neglected

In compiling statistics for an article I wrote about our aging society, I interviewed senior citizens, family members and persons representing care-giving institutions. Regarding their spiritual well-being, one wish was of primary concern: that when they had contact with their priest, minister, rabbi or other spiritual counselor, it would be someone they knew or who knew something about them.

One woman in a nursing home told me that her frequent visitor knew more about every member of a mission family in a foreign country than she knew of those in her parish. In large congregations it's difficult for the officers to know all their senior members. But most churches have files on their members that can be checked for background information.

Seniors expressed the feeling that, if they could no longer be physically active in church committees and such, they were not useful to the function of the congregation and therefore their opinions were dismissed. One formerly active person said "I am no longer part of the young, vigorous and financially endowed, the movers and shakers in the church."

All spoke of the difference between the "duty visit" and that which brought an exchange of ideas related to the patient's interests or connection with the church. One noted that the desperate are among us, and many are the elderly who exist in our own city. He added that there seems to be compassion toward those on other continents, while citizens of the United States hope to feed their spiritual hunger without support.

-- Merrillyn Hartridge, Madison

County senior centers offer support

Thanks goes to State Journal reporter Dean Mosiman who wrote an excellent series explaining elder abuse.

In Dane County we are fortunate to have a unique resource to help older adults and their families deal with the challenges of aging. There are 12 senior centers throughout the county and four aging coalitions in the city of Madison that employ case managers to work with older adults and their families.

A case manager can connect older adults with local services that will help them live successfully in their communities. This also helps caregivers who are overwhelmed with the responsibilities of providing good care.

Case managers work closely with Dane County Elder Abuse and are often the first ones to be aware of a local elder abuse problem. Many senior centers offer caregiver support groups. And senior centers offer a wide variety of activities, services and information including a monthly newsletter. To find the senior center or coalition closest to you, contact the Dane County Area Agency on Aging at 608-261-9930.

-- Jill Kranz, director, Middleton Senior Center

Exposing abuse will help end it

I am a gerontologist and have been in the field of aging for almost 30 years. Your research and articles were long in coming, but so valuable. It is going to take investigative stories such as yours to draw attention to this horrible occurrence, which is not new. Abuse has been occurring as long as man has been alive.

But I agree with your article that it is not the stress of caregiving that spawns the problems, but rather the need to control. We can contact our legislators, but each of us is individually responsible to stop this.

Thank you for scratching the surface. The wound is now open, hopefully boomers will provide the balm.

-- Geri Heppe, Brookfield

Had good care at Middleton Village

I had knee replacement surgery in January 2006 and spent two weeks at Middleton Village, which was mentioned in the elder abuse series as a troubled facility. My care was excellent.

Everyone was friendly and attentive. The facilities were clean, and the food was plentiful and delicious. The attendants did not walk in the halls -- they ran from place to place.

Since I had to do a lot of exercise and walking, I walked the halls all over the building and never saw any rooms that were not clean and well attended. I am sorry they are having this trouble, because I sure did not see any of this. I've recommended this place to others because of my pleasant experience there.

-- Virginia James, Madison

Remember and value our elderly citizens

We won't have done enough to protect Wisconsin's oldest and most vulnerable citizens until there are no elderly citizens without visitors in assisted living and nursing facilities. We will have failed our seniors unless and until there are no lonely, isolated people living without adequate, affordable medical care and housing options.

Family and community contact is critical for our assisted living seniors. For every caring, concerned family that calls, writes and visits regularly, there is one who can't be bothered to take Mom or Dad to a doctor appointment, even if they live within 20 miles of the facility. Or there are those who promise to bring a cake for a birthday celebration and then forget to show up, or whose golf game is more important than spending an afternoon visiting an elderly relative.

Every one of us is responsible for the care and well-being of Wisconsin's seniors. Something as simple as a call, a card or a brief visit with a neighbor, relative or friend becomes the highlight of the day for someone who is homebound. It's an effortless way to look for areas of concern.

I recently resigned my position as facility manager for a local assisted living facility, not because I felt overwhelmed or underappreciated and not because quality staffing was a nightmare (even though it was). I resigned because there is a need in my own family to assist a senior who wants to remain at home. I want to help -- because I can.

-- Diane Matson, Stoughton

Follow boomers' lead and end silent shame'

We baby boomers forced change in many areas. We protested the Vietnam War, we pushed for changes in divorce laws, we brought about changes in employment rules and job security, we voted for those who supported change, we helped bring special education into our public schools and we marched for civil rights.

We haven't done as well lately, as insurance coverage is eroding, we have soldiers dying, job security is gone and the income gap is widening. Those things affect us, too.

We aren't going to be the ones to force change for the elderly. The baby boomers are wearing out. Pete Seeger isn't singing to us anymore, our children and grandchildren will have to "pick up the hammer," turn up the volume and see to it that elder abuse is no longer a silent shame. Maybe then there will be a change.

-- Marilyn Penn, Sun Prairie

Must be accountable from the top down

The coverage of nursing home and home care abuse was a fabulous opening for correction. It take a person who is an inmate in one of the poor nursing homes to recognize why abuse continues.

Every abuser has a name, which must be given to the nursing home inspectors for them to investigate. The end result is usually "no probable cause for investigation was found." It usually takes filing suit in the courts for probable cause to be found.

A lawsuit can bring about the discharge of the nursing home administrator, who is allowed to move on to the next nursing home. The certified nursing assistants, registered nurses and so on, remain intact.

Nursing homes are aware of what the state inspectors will cover up and what is serious. The state inspector is not held accountable for not finding the reported neglect and abuse. Their job position, along with the involved nurses and nursing assistants, needs to be included in abuse cases in the courts.

We need a registry that notes when a person in this field begins and ends employment. Any person who is dismissed should have a report on the cause with a penalty for failure to include such a report.

I sued two nursing homes, one of which was mentioned in the elder abuse series. One administrator served in six nursing homes. She has never been held accountable.

-- Betty Pfister, Madison

Volunteer ombudsmen making a difference

The Wisconsin Board on Aging and Long Term Care salutes the State Journal for the exposure it has given to the tragedy of elder abuse, including abuse that may occur in long term care facilities.

To make a real difference, be an advocate. Call the board, voice your concerns and make the choice to become a volunteer ombudsman.

The volunteer ombudsman program has more than 125 trained volunteers who must pass a criminal background check, participate in training and be free of conflict of interest before being assigned a long term care facility in their community.

Volunteers make weekly unannounced visits to area nursing homes in 11 counties and assisted living facilities in six counties, and this is not enough.

Volunteers are literally the "eyes and ears" of our regional ombudsmen. Volunteers listen to, speak for and help residents in facilities, getting problems resolved and referring issues to the right people to get things done.

They build trusting relationships with residents and families so they will share their concerns and fears, and identify what they'd like to have to give their lives meaning and quality. Still this is not enough.

More people advocating will make the difference in the quality of care for your loved ones. Call us at 800-815-0015 any time if you see, hear or suspect mistreatment of a resident in a facility. This is a free and confidential service. Or call us to become a volunteer -- you can make a difference.

-- Kellie Miller, director of volunteer ombudsman program, Wisconsin Board on Aging and Long Term Care

Study current theories on process of aging

As you move from problems to solutions in elder care, I suggest referring to the April 30, 2007, New Yorker magazine, to Atul Gawande's article "The Way We Age Now." It outlines what good geriatric medicine does, and it points out the current shortage of geriatric doctors.

It's an interesting article that focuses on what preventive medicine can do if the practitioners have the right training and orientation.

-- George Hagenauer, town of Springdale

Make those who exploit the elderly pay

Thank you, Dean Mosiman, for your excellent series. Wisconsin can take immediate steps to deter offenders, abusers and predators from targeting vulnerable adults for financial profit.

To send a clear message, all crimes against elderly, vulnerable adults must be classified as felonies with special circumstances. These should include strong sentencing guidelines with harsh punishments, mandatory time in prison for first time offenders, consecutive sentences for each count with orders of restitution or the defendant returns to prison.

No mercy, no reducing charges to misdemeanors, no probation, no community service, no electronic monitoring.

The media can effectively deter crime by airing and publishing specific crimes of elder abuse and financial exploitation, with case details, names of those charged and the sentences that they received.

-- Sylvia Rudek, Mount Prospect, Ill.