We acknowledge the traditional owners of the lens on which this podcast has been produced, and we pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and to elder’s past and present. Welcome to snack, the aged care podcast where we break down some of the big questions around what it really means to be person centered. This podcast is brought to you by the ethnic communities Council of Queensland, also known as ECC Q, the peak body for multicultural communities in Queensland. My name is Tanner Roy Smith, and I’m from the ethnic communities Council of Queensland’s multicultural advisory service. My team and I provide cultural diversity training to aged care service providers and also assist multicultural communities to access aged care services. In this episode, we are joined by Daniela Liz, a community member and a tireless advocate of people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Daniella speaks five languages and is of Slovenian background. She has a specific understanding of Italian and French cultures as she has lived in Rome, Paris and in other countries. She has worked as a lifestyle coordinator in aged care and was also a social support worker. She became a dementia advocate when she was caring for her mother who had dementia. Let’s hear from Daniella about her lived experience as a carer.
01:42
So my lived experiences and knowledge of the needs of people from culturally and linguistically diverse background is extensive, as is my understanding of how service providers can improve the delivery of their services. And that’s why I advocate on behalf of seniors from diverse backgrounds, but of course Australians and those living with dementia, and I work with many multicultural organizations.
02:10
Daniela has been a carer for her parents, she shared with us how the caring role had impacted her own life.
02:20
caring role can hit us unexpectedly, and we have to live our careers and the life we have to become full time carers. My parents came into my care from overseas, they were frail and unwell. They did not have any English as many people who are born overseas, I certainly did know anything about the word carer, or that there were any supports or services for carers. In many overseas countries, or culture. It is the daughters and sons that look after their parents. And I just tried to do my best as a good daughter. And as you can imagine, probably in the late 90s, there were hardly any services or support. We were living in the regional part of Tasmania, so that was even worse. And all that opened my eyes and I saw the need of me becoming more involved using my languages and my experience. So I started working with partners in cultural appropriate care, migrants Resource Center, multicultural Council of Tasmania, and I was giving workshops to service providers, what do
03:47
you think are some of the challenges and solutions that multicultural communities face when accessing aged care services or when they are in K?
03:55
You know, for quite a few years now my motto has been, we have a diverse country with diverse population, but our human rights are equal. So if we look at the human rights of seniors and elders in Australia, then the care and support delivered must be exactly the same for all no matter what the challenges are. If I look at the homecare delivery first I have been part of preparing care plan for a number of people. And I can see that, for example, the service providers don’t match the worker and the client. For example, in some cases, the client might have been abused in the past by a partner or another Don’t male person, in which case that client will have difficulty having a male carer helping await they care.
05:13
Daniela has been caring for her parents, she shared with us how the caring role had impacted her own life.
05:22
The provider is the one who must engage the interpreter out of their duty of care. They shouldn’t leave this to the client because the client a may not even know where to start or be who to call. I also used many years ago, a little book called this is me and my life. It was produced by dementia Australia many years ago, but I have seen that now we have more modern versions. So again, something to download, or and by. They’re very helpful when you want to get to know your client. For the support workers learning a few words in the person’s language can work miracles. My mom when she became depressed and crying and sad, if I wasn’t there, and the worker would say in Slovenian, you are so beautiful, the CO labor See, my mother stopped crying and became perfectly happy. And another one it’s that a come from cultures where we are not necessarily on such friendly terms as we are a failure. So if a person prefers to be called Miss, or be Angela, we must. What else can I say the support worker needs to be respectful of diverse cultures and languages. And hopefully has received all the appropriate thing not only in cultural appropriate device, but where and how to access all bicultural apps and tools and know how to use them because this is still something that I get very angry about service providers and their staff not knowing about all the bicultural tools that exist or knowing but not using them.
07:32
How could care workers helping understanding the needs of culturally diverse seniors when they are providing care.
07:41
I know that if I had a French speaking care worker and a French speaking client, I would make sure that they spent a lot of time together. One thing to remember is that a person may speak Polish for example, and you are having difficulty finding a Polish speaking interpreter or or volunteer editor. Try to establish if this person has knowledge of other languages, which for pIans is often the case German and French, they will very often have that on top of their mother tongue and this will make your work easier. And the rest It’s really like what I said before please use by culture at Santos there are so many and so you’re welcome workers are trained in cultural appropriate care. Have mealtimes reflect the multicultural environment in your establishment ensure that people from other countries get an occasional German meal Italian meal Indian meal, do you know how horribly hard it is for somebody who has all their life in Australia maintained their culture and eaten Indian and it’s all of a sudden faced with Australian cuisine greatly all over the plate English, Christmas pudding and things like that. We don’t know these things because even though we have lived here for many, many years, many of us have continued enjoying our our cuisine, which is part of our culture. And when there is English language lacking you get in the family member to help that person or interpreter because a different language and culture to English Australian. It’s not reason to exclude anyone. On the contrary, respectful multicar I trust society. It’s the only way to harmony and peace in this world. And we are far from it here in Australia.
10:10
In some cultures, people don’t ask for what they want. They just accept what is given to them and may not question if their needs are not many. Daniella shares her personal observations and offers some suggestions to clients from diverse backgrounds.
10:27
Many of us come from countries where speaking up or logical complain or actually asking for something, it’s a now now it can even be punishable. So I believe we need to help the person gain enough courage to say what they need. Also to ask for interpreter if it hasn’t yet been arranged the provider to occasionally take out to the back cultural club, or church or arrange for that transport. And of course, spend some time with the people from the same country. One of the things that it’s so important, and yet so hardly ever found in the residential care facilities. It’s that the people have a variety of TV programs, but the people from culturally diverse backgrounds, we have news and movies, on the radio and on the TV, in our own language at the different times. So why can’t the providers find enough initiative to help us access all that? Because many of the older people, I don’t have the remote control or we don’t know how to use it anymore? And then, of course, it’s not wrong these days to ask, may I please have Dalmatian operation meal once in a while. It’s in the standards, it’s in the regulations. So we shouldn’t be ashamed or shy to ask for it. Have to do more to empower the older people, both Australian born and overseas born to be more resilient and to know their human rights.
12:22
Now, if there was one key message for care workers to provide culturally appropriate care, what would that be Daniella.
12:30
The things that I’m saying today, and the messages I’m sharing today are not new. I’ve been saying them for the past 20 years. At the end of the day, we can do anything we want. There are no barriers, just our good will. Do you know, Tana Hopper said, Nothing is impossible. And when this is often attributed to Alexander the Great in 323 BC, by the way, he was a former king of Macedonia who achieved great things. And so surely since then, we would have learned by now, what do you think? Well
13:16
said, Daniella, thank you so much for your valuable insights today.
13:22
And thank you.
13:28
If you want to know more about interpreter services, listen to the value of engaging professional interpreters. The third episode of this podcast season. Join us for the next episode of snack to hear more about caring for culturally and linguistically diverse people. Funding for this podcast has been provided by the Council on the aging Queensland homecare workforce Support Consortium as part of the homecare workforce Support Program, which is funded through grant funding from the Australian Government
