Elder Shield Presented by ACB

Adams Community Bank is located in the very northwestern part of Massachusetts. Berkshire County is home to one of the oldest populations in the state, with 25.5% of our citizens over 65. ACB's customer base is even more mature, with individuals 65 and older making up over 36% of our customers. For that very reason, Adams Community Bank takes elder abuse and elder financial exploitation seriously. The management and staff have actively developed training programs, take-ones, and training sessions for staff. Our immediate focus is education and awareness. We have trained our front-line staff on these topics for over 10 years. The in-house program is held annually for all retail branch staff and periodically for new hires. This training teaches what abuse and exploitation are, warning signs and red flags, and what action to take if you believe someone is being abused or exploited. The latest scams and schemes are shared weekly in team meetings to keep the information fresh and front of mind. Branch incidents are shared to demonstrate that this does happen here and to our customers and loved ones.

We also have teams of management and staff who take our program on the road and offer it to local groups. The groups include Councils on Aging, Housing Authorities, and Elder Services in our area. The CIO has visited many of these agencies to speak to their teams on the hot scams for over 10 years.

As you will see from the content of this presentation, we are proud of the outcomes we have produced with this training and outreach efforts.