The taboo surrounding elder abuse in Bermuda must be eradicated if the issue is to be properly tackled, according to the executive director of Age Concern.

Claudette Fleming told The Royal Gazette that the shocking case of "Auntie Em" — the 95-year-old near-blind widow whose plight was revealed by this newspaper last Friday — highlighted the need for discussion and debate on the topic. "We have to get to a place where it's not taboo anymore and we get it out into the open," she said. Auntie Em was allegedly mentally abused by her adopted daughter and forced to live in filthy, rodent and roach-infested conditions until nursing assistant Yvonne Dawson took her into her own home last year.

A filmed interview with Ms Dawson and footage of the deplorable state of Auntie's Em home can be viewed at www.theroyalgazette.com.

Ms Fleming said laws to deal with elder abuse were definitely needed but added that it was hard to estimate the scale of the problem in Bermuda due to a lack of information.

"We definitely need the legislation; that's why it's being worked on and it's probably overdue," she said.

"What we need more so is to be more proactive so we hear less about these types of cases."

The charity boss is appealing to Auntie Em's nephew — who hired Ms Dawson to care for his elderly relative when he realised the scale of the neglect — to contact Age Concern, whose mission is to determine the needs of seniors and link them with the right services.

"I want to see where the system has failed and why," said Ms Fleming.

"How did this family fall through the cracks? People have to know who to turn to so that the ball doesn't keep getting passed.

"I think the main thing is: who is ultimately responsible, how does the process work and does the information on individual cases get communicated to family members and other individuals?"

Auntie Em's situation was reported to the National Office for Seniors and the Physically Challenged, which investigated and held a meeting with Ms Dawson and family members. Ms Dawson offered, at that meeting, to care for the nonagenarian as she did not want to go into a rest home.

Auntie Em was later admitted to the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, where she remains, having had part of one leg amputated after gangrene set in. "In this case, maybe she would have benefited from being placed somewhere against her will," said Ms Fleming. "I hate saying that but if it was so dire. Are there things in place that can prevent a person from being further harmed?"

Ms Fleming said more information on elder abuse — which is defined by the National Center on Elder Abuse in the US as exploitation, neglect, abandonment or physical, emotional or sexual abuse of a senior — was needed on the Island. A forthcoming joint Age Concern/government survey on seniors' issues will ask questions on the subject. But Ms Fleming added: "It's not easily self-described and if anything family members are going to try and hide it. Anywhere in the world it is difficult to track and pinpoint."

Elder abuse should be reported to the National Office for Seniors on 292-7802. Age Concern can be contacted on 238-7525.