Vulnerable Elder Protection Teams
A Vulnerable Elder Protection Team (VEPT) is an ED/hospital-based multi-disciplinary team to address elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation. VEPT is a consultation service available 24/7 to assess, treat, and ensure the safety of elder mistreatment victims while also collecting evidence when appropriate and working closely with the authorities. Similar to the child protection teams which exist in many hospitals, the VEPT’s goal is to increase identification, appropriate intervention, and reporting of elder mistreatment while also decreasing the burden on ED and hospital providers in managing these complex and challenging cases.
The Weill Cornell/NewYork-Presbyterian VEPT began in 2017, and has transformed emergency care for older adults presenting in the ED. We are working to identify a health system partner in Northeastern Pennsylvania to serve as a home to PA's first VEPT. In the meantime, please visit the following webpages to learn more:
PEACE VEPT Team
Tony is a practicing Emergency Physician at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and a researcher in elder abuse and geriatric injury prevention. He has led the development of an Emergency Department-based multi-disciplinary VEPT to assess, treat, and ensure the safety of elder abuse and neglect victims while collecting evidence and working closely with the authorities. His research focuses on improving the identification, intervention, and prevention of elder abuse in the ED and other health care settings. Tony has collaborated with colleagues to improve physician documentation of geriatric injuries in a project supported by funding from the U.S. Department of Justice. Tony worked in horror movies (on the business side) for several years after college and then worked in mortgage default software before going to public health and medical school.
Contact
For more information about any of the PEACE programs, or about PEACE implementation overall, please contact program manager Bess White at bew2011@med.cornell.edu. We look forward to hearing from you!