Media Centre

Minister Appreciates our Commitment to Multiculturism

Publish Date: 01/11/2006
Author: Marketing & Communications Department

Baptcare's CEO, Jeff Davey was presented with a certificate of appreciation from the Minister of Ageing, at the launch of 'Like my own Family', on Wednesday 25th October.

The Northern Migrant Resource Centre has partnered with Baptcare, The Brotherhood of St Laurence and a local GP to produce an educational DVD that will capture the value of culturally matched support services.

Baptcare staff joined guests and others involved in the production of ‘Like my own Family’ as it was formally launched by the Honourable Senator Santo Santoro, Minister for Ageing on Wednesday October 25th at the Department of Health and Ageing.

Following a showing of the film, the Minister presented certificates of appreciation to those involved in the film including Baptcare’s CEO Jeff Davey who emphasised the need for cultural matching if a client is affected by dementia.

The population of older people from non English speaking backgrounds is growing faster than for other older Australians. Many people from ethnic backgrounds are reluctant to accept support from anybody other than members of their own family. The family Carer may be frail or for other reasons be unable to provide the level of care needed and may need respite to maintain other family relationships, allow time to socialise or work outside the home.

A multicultural policy forms part of Baptcare’s state-wide Special Needs’ strategy providing guidelines for the use of interpreters and translated information. The strategy includes targeted partnerships with ethno-specific agencies and other support services. One such partnership is with the Northern Migrant Resource Centre who operate a Multicultural Home Support Service providing home care, personal care and respite support to ageing people from migrant and refugee backgrounds. As part of a commitment to providing quality care that is culturally appropriate, NMRC trained and experienced home-care workers are matched to Baptcare CACP and EACH clients’ specific language, cultural, religious and gender requirements. This gives both the care recipient and their family Carer the confidence to accept services from someone who understands their needs and is able to communicate appropriately.

The DVD will now be used nationally to encourage families whose first language is not English to be more confident that services available can support their needs sensitively, to inform service providers about the need for cultural matching and as an educational aid in training home-care workers.