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Board proclaims April Child Abuse Prevention Month; adult‑care committee flags cowbell call bell practice
Summary
Moore County commissioners unanimously approved a proclamation declaring April 2025 Child Abuse Prevention Month. The Adult Care and Nursing Home Community Advisory Committee reported on 2024 visits and raised concern about one assisted‑living facility using cowbells as resident call bells, which the committee members described as undignified.
The board adopted a proclamation asking citizens and community partners to increase participation in child abuse prevention efforts; Department of Social Services presenter Sienna Waiters cited federal fiscal‑year 2024 figures (approximately 115,000 investigated reports in North Carolina, 19,017 substantiated reports) and asked the board to declare April 2025 Child Abuse Prevention Month in Moore County, which the board approved by voice vote.
Sandra Nussbaum, chair of the Adult Care and Nursing Home Community Advisory Committee, delivered the committee's annual report noting volunteer hours and quarterly visits to nursing and assisted‑living facilities. Nussbaum said the committee encountered "one major concern" in 2024: an assisted‑living facility that used cowbells for resident call bells. She said the regional ombudsman informed the committee that the state approves the practice, but committee members found it disrespectful; staff and commissioners asked Nussbaum to follow up with the county manager to seek a solution.
A commissioner moved to accept the committee’s annual report and the board approved it by voice vote. The board also requested the committee provide any additional clarifying statistics requested by commissioners (for example, the number of substantiated local cases noted in the DSS report).
