We acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands on which this podcast has been produced, and we pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and to elders past and present. Welcome to SNAC, 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 ECCQ, the peak body for multicultural communities in Queensland. In today’s episode, we’ll be hearing about the rewarding aspects of working as a carer for culturally diverse people. Amanda Bowden from ECCQ’s Partners in Culturally Appropriate Care program speaks to David Vian, care worker with Diversicare, which is a home care division of came to Australia from Vietnam. And for the past 10 years, has been enjoying a fulfilling career in home care work. On Saturday at March, I met a young Vietnamese lady, Linh. She’s a home care worker, and they’ve been sick here for almost 5 years. And she, suggest me to think about becoming a home care worker. I, look up and found the interesting, Diversicare volunteer program, and I become a member in on May 2013. Yeah. During the visit as a volunteer worker, I found happiness. The resident in the home care in in the nursing home is so nice, very lovely. And the kindness, I met the kindness and the AIN, which is a, assisting nursing carer, and suddenly, some surprises, my sister was a a cook over there. They, suggest me to take the course and get into the home care worker. And I I got the job in babysitter care on November 2013. We then ask David what is important on the first visit to a client. That is so important for a first visit.
I normally try to find out the background of the person I’m going to visit because I can build trust and show respect to them. The people, they have I met through the last 10 year, they have all different culture background, from Vietnam, Australia, England, Spain, Poland, India, like, Asian, culture background from India and Vietnam, Chinese. They have they have something like always like, wearing appropriate attire, can show respectful, to take the shoe off before enter the house. But over here, I I need to wear shoes, so I bring another shoe inside shoe. Okay. With the, people, like, in Vietnam, they like to pass thing or receive thing by 2 hands. They, like to live close together, and the children love to support their parent as their old age. With the Baoings, sometime before I when I read, I find that Baoings, only happen now in Japan or Korea. But I I just before I come here, I I have a visit people from India, and they said that, vow vowing to all the people is not appropriate now in India. Yeah. So, therefore, to visit, to met you better talk to the person you are going to visit, then you get the best result, the the best culture you need to know. And you’d ask the person themselves and also their family members how they like to be cared for, how they like to be shown respect? Exactly. Yes. When a care worker first starts work, they are assigned a buddy by their care coordinator. The buddy is an experienced care worker who shows the new person what the work is about. Usually, the buddy goes with the new care worker to the client’s house during the first visit. Yes. It’s a interesting thing that, when the newcomer, they first came to the work, they might worry so much what they are going to do.
And the buddy ship program is the person can follow an experienced worker, and, they can help him whatever in detail and maybe it happened 1 week or 2 weeks. And after that, they will be so confident in their job. And we feel the job is become easier for them. So the new home care worker follows you around as the experienced home care worker, and you show them what to do and how to do it. Is that correct? Correct. Yes. The experienced worker will show every detail, every trick, any tips, which is can help the newcomer to work properly so they can get a job, and they will confident in their work. David, I understand that you began your career in aged care as a volunteer. Could you tell us a bit about that, please? Yes. I suggest before you get into aged care workforce, you need to drive first to end to join the the team called volunteer and work in a nursing home. You at that time, you go to visit the older people. You will find your happiness, and you will find the worker over there, the nurses, the worker. They, help you and they show you the way, then you feel more confident and to think about for longer term by taking the course like me and get into the health care work over 10 year. So you’d recommend, doing some volunteering in aged care first just to see if you like it, see if you’re well suited to it, and if it’s something that you would like as a career path. That’s 100% correct. Yes. And, volunteer will will tell you that you are capable to meet the older people. You feel that you can start a course and get into the caring industry.
So what would you recommend for people starting their careers as a home care worker? With the home care worker, you might require to do different job, such as domestic assistance, social support, personal care, but you can go detail with that when you get into the workforce. But over here, I only suggest that, first of all, you need to like the job, you know what you are doing, being on time, respecting the people you are working, cooperate with the family member and your colleagues at work, and ask if you don’t know. The family member or we call the primary carer should know the person much better than we do. Talking about habit, keeping habit to learn a better way to perform your test, checking your progress, and up the ship with through coordinator or your, colleagues. David, when you first meet a new client or consumer, what are some ways that you get to know them and know what they like, what they don’t like? How do you get to know them? Okay. It’s a first visit. It’s own way. Things I need to know. I need to know the person condition, health condition, history of 4, and the specifics, things I need to know, especially the culture, because some people have a different culture. When I know that, I will avoid anything that I can against their culture. For example, when I walk into the people house, I bring my own soup. I think they help me with that, and that happened to many place where I go. Another thing is when I build trust with them after a period of work, then I can see. I can ask them about their culture, what I should learn. I’m interested on learning people consumer culture, and they were happy to tell me.
I when I work over there, I can smell their cooking. I can see some spiritual statues or photo or picture, even something different on their house, I don’t touch. And I respect all those thing and they leave it there. So that they help me the way I do. I keep learning, I keep asking, and I will get the better about culture for my work. Right. I guess there’s no end to to learning about your client or consumer. There’s always something more to learn about them, and the more you learn about them, the better the quality of your care is for them. Certainly. Yes. And I through that, I can, build more relationship with with trust and my work before become more comfortable. And would you say your relationship with the client or consumer is more important or just as important as getting the task done for them? I think that’s more important to know people, to get, just build, to the the consumer I work to. That’s more important than the task. Do you think that there are any advantages of being born in a country outside of Australia or, from your hardship of your experience as a former refugee, that might give you a special perspective or empathy for the older people that you care for. Yes. They are. As a Vietnamese, I have the habit to work hard to a living because, I know I learned that the Vietnamese government at that time could not provide enough support for the unemployment worker and retiree. They may need the charity for the poor and own children support their parents. Here’s the child. I started, helping my parents. On weekends, I, rode the bike my bike from school to home about 16 k to do help my parents whatever they need.
And in that way, I feel real happiness. Yeah. Living in Australia, I try to keep the same habit because I think that already in my bloodstream. And supporting all the people is always my, ordinary work. Yeah. David’s Vietnamese cultural background the way he cares for people. He introduces the concept of karma, which is a belief about cost and effect. It is about how one’s good deeds in this life influences the outcomes in this generation or the next. Yeah. I believe in karma because karma is something happened the very beginning in the universe before anyone with the karma. If you believe in karma, then you will see the result of what you have done in the past. When you think the karma, when you do it, you don’t think it happened in your life. It might be happen in the next life. If people believe in karma, I think the war will end. They will love each other more, will make good deed for other so they can receive good karma. I believe in karma, so whatever I do now, I will receive it in the future. Don’t have to be in this life, but maybe my next life. And finally, David, if there was one piece of advice that you could offer to a new home care worker, what would it be? Have a positive thinking to the matter in any situation. Believe in teamwork effort because by yourself, you can never done successful anything. Rootkarma will guide you a correct choice. Thank you, David. Thank you. 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 Ageing Queensland Home Care Workforce Support Consortium as part of the Home Care Support Programme, which was funded through grant funding from the Australian government.
