Montgomery County hosted their 14th annual Older Adult Safety Forum Tuesday, headlined by keynote speaker and Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy.
“This is a wonderful community for you to live in as a senior citizen,” McCarthy said in his opening remarks.
The event, which took place from 10-11:30 a.m. at the Holiday Park Senior Center and via livestream, focused on discussing how to create a safer, “longevity-ready” community.
During his time at the podium, McCarthy spent time talking about victimization of older adults through scams.
“Sometimes when you’re victimized… it’s almost impossible to get your money back.” McCarthy said. “Your being here today is the best thing you could possibly do to educate yourself about the types of things we are seeing here in Montgomery County that can protect yourself from being a victim of fraud.”
McCarthy also remarked on the importance of togetherness in protecting older adults.
“If we’re going to make our senior community safer, we’ve got to do this as a community, not individually,” he said.
McCarthy also referenced a need to get over some of the social stigmas related to being scammed.
“We can’t allow embarrassment… one of the number one reasons why people don’t come forward a lot of times when they’re victims of abuse is because of embarrassment,” he said. “We’ve got to get past that.”
The 2024 forum also included presentations from law enforcement, the Office of Consumer Protection and Adult Protective Services. Attendees had access to educational activities, Q&A sessions with presenters, music, yoga and boxed lunches.
“This is about looking out for each other,” McCarthy said. “Educate yourself.”
