by Matthew Holloway | Apr 26, 2026 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
The Arizona House of Representatives approved Senate Bill 1041 with a bipartisan 41–11 vote on Wednesday, advancing legislation that would allow electronic monitoring in long-term care facilities.
According to a press release from AARP Arizona, the bill is intended to provide an additional option for families seeking to monitor the care of residents who may be unable to report abuse or neglect. The amended measure now returns to the Arizona Senate for approval.
SB 1041, if enacted, would permit residents or their representatives to install electronic monitoring devices, such as cameras, in long-term care settings under specified conditions.
The House vote follows recent media reports of an alleged abuse incident involving a long-term care worker and a resident with dementia
“This legislation gives families an additional option to help protect residents who may not be able to speak for themselves,” said Dana Marie Kennedy, state director of AARP Arizona, in the release.
Kennedy cited a recent incident involving the alleged abuse of a dementia patient, which, according to the release, “came to light only after the resident’s daughter placed a camera in her mother’s room and captured what occurred, leading to the worker’s arrest.”
According to AZ Family, Gamacy Gilles, 46, was arrested and accused of abusing a dementia patient at Grand Court Senior Living in Mesa on Sunday.
“That case highlights why SB 1041 matters,” Kennedy said, “Families should not have to depend on chance or learn after the fact that a loved one was harmed.”
Kennedy said the bill builds on several years of advocacy focused on improving safety and oversight in long-term care facilities. AARP Arizona has worked on related issues since 2017, according to the organization.
AARP Arizona also acknowledged the bill’s sponsor, Wendy Rogers (R-LD6), and its House sponsor, Quang Nguyen (R-LD1), and urged the Arizona Senate to approve the measure.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Daniel Stefanski | Nov 7, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanksi |
A recent report shows that elderly Americans are collectively losing billions of dollars through nefarious means.
Earlier this year, AARP released a report, showing that Americans over the age of 60 years old lose $28.3 billion each year to ‘elder financial exploitation’ (EFE).
According to the non-profit, EFE is “the illegal or improper use of an older adult’s funds, property, or assets.”
“While strangers often rely on quick and irreversible transactions such as gift cards or wire transfers, perpetrators who know the victim are more likely to gain direct access to their victims’ bank accounts. But financial exploitation of any kind wreaks havoc on the lives of older adults and their families,” said Jilenne Gunther, National Director of AARP’s BankSafe Initiative and lead author of the report. “The keys to stopping this growing problem are consumer education, frontline employee training and strengthened technology to flag suspicious activity.”
AARP labeled its methodology for producing the total annual losses as “a first-of-its-kind,” due to the fact that the majority of these dollars go unreported. In fact, the report estimated that out of the $28.3 billion comprising the annual EFE deficit, $20.5 billion is unreported. Almost three-quarters of the $28.3 billion ($20.3 billion) stems from people the victim(s) know, while the remaining $8 billion is pilfered from strangers.
In its conclusion, AARP asserts that the reason for this vast divide between the fraud from strangers or family / friends is because “the nature of stranger-perpetrated fraud bears little resemblance to fraud initiated by people the victim knows. To start, while strangers may rely on quick and irreversible transactions such as gift cards or wire transfers, perpetrators familiar to the victim are more likely to make incremental inroads, gaining direct access to funds, for example, by attaining joint ownership or power of attorney status on their victims’ accounts.”
The report gave two possible solutions to help minimize future EFE. The first is to “provide funding to states to mandate and standardize data collection procedures of Adult Protective Services, which would enhance the picture of EFE.” The second is to “tailor evidence-based intervention strategies based on perpetrator type.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
