Welcome to the Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing's new monthly e-newsletter. Each month we'll be bringing you the latest news, resources, professional development information and examples of best practice in the area of cultural diversity in ageing. We thank you for subscribing and invite you to share your ideas so that together we can improve the quality of life for older Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

We've come to the end of another productive year- what better time to reflect on our achievements.

The theme for 2010 has been ‘change’. The aged care sector has been buzzing all year with the prospect of broad-based reforms as a result of the Productivity Commission’s Inquiry into Caring for Older Australians. Like our industry peers, we too enthusiastically penned our ideals for enhancing the ‘system’ for all older Australians and in particular for those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Our submission touched on the need for policy to guide service design and delivery, access to language services, expansion of training services and the need for further research to inform the provision of aged care services to people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. We wait with great anticipation to see the outcomes of the enquiry.

The Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing continued to build on our considerable networks with aged care providers, peak bodies and the multicultural sector. Of particular note this year we collaborated on projects with Palliative Care Victoria, Carers Victoria, Alzheimer’s Australia Victoria, The Australian Greek Welfare Society and The Ballarat Regional Multicultural Council. We also continued our efforts to provide resources and network opportunities to the 29 Community Partners Program (CPP) funded organisations throughout Victoria.

Our Professional Development Program focused on language services in aged care, carers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, culturally inclusive policy development and culturally inclusive food services. We continued to respond to training requests from a broad cross-section of aged care providers delivering workshops and information sessions across metropolitan and regional Melbourne.

Our annual state-wide conference contributed to ever growing discussions on end-of-life concerns such as palliative care, advanced care planning and spirituality. The conference attracted 200 participants. Among the highlights was a multi-faith panel session with representatives from the Christian, Jewish, Orthodox, Islamic and Buddhist faiths who each spoke of specific end-of-life religious practices and an uplifting performance to close the conference by the Spectrum Multicultural Choir. Read more about the Conference

In September we launched our ‘new and improved’ website. We hope you find it useful. Please check out our resources section on the website for new multilingual resources and guides to providing culturally appropriate care. If you would like to help us spread the word, or the 'web address', we will be more than happy to send you our poster designed to expand awareness of the site.

We extend our appreciation to all those who supported us in our work throughout the year. In particular we thank the Department of Health and Ageing and to our colleagues at Benetas for their ongoing support.

Kindest Regards,

Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing Team

Role of Faith and Spirituality Panel Presentation (above) from left: Imam Ismail Nazir (Dandenong South Mosque), Father Luke Bell (St John of Kronstadt Russian Welfare Society), Senior Venerable Thich Nguyen Tang (Quang Duc Monastery), Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant (Jewish Care), Paul Zammit (Benetas)

Spectrum Multicultural Choir

Aged Care Information Sheets now available in 17 languages

The Department of Health and Ageing's Aged Care Information Sheets have provided aged care information to older Australians and their carers since 1997. A number of Information Sheets have now been translated into 17 languages as a trial project. The Information Sheets have been translated into languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Croatian and Dutch.

The Department of Health and Ageing are seeking feedback from older people and their carers about the translated Information Sheets. If you wish to provide any feedback please contact the Project Manager at aged.care@health.gov.au or fax to 02 6289 3566. Any feedback will be considered so the Department of Health and Ageing can continue to improve access to aged care services for all Australians.

Click here for the translated Aged Care Information Sheets
 

'Caring for Older Survivors of Genocide and Mass Trauma’ Report

The final report from the 'Caring for Older Survivors of Genocide and Mass Trauma’ project that was conducted in 2008-09 is now available. The project was conducted by Lincoln Centre for Research on Ageing, at the Australian Institute for Primary Care & Ageing at La Trobe University, Melbourne,  in collaboration with Jewish Care Inc (Victoria).

Download this document
 

'Research to Practice Briefing 4-Supporting older people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds' Report

Prepared by the Social Policy Research Centre and The Benevolent Society, this Briefing Paper distils evidence from research to guide community care workers and managers in their day-to-day work with older people from CALD backgrounds.

Download this document
 

Victoria

Gippsland Multicultural Services announces a series of seminars

These seminars will focus on issues relating to the delivery of culturally appropriate aged care services and highlight initiatives and services that enhance provision of this care. The seminars are aimed at managers and owners of aged care services, care managers, and health professionals working in the aged care sector.

Click here for more information on the series of seminars
 

'Ageing in the Migrant Diaspora'
The 9th International Conference on Greek Research (June 2011)

This Conference on Greek Research is a 4-day event where research papers will be presented on studies related to Greek and Cypriot themes. A vibrant program will be dedicated to papers and posters relating to Greek and Cypriot studies that will continue the tradition of the international conferences on Greek Research. The Conference will explore themes such as ageing experiences of first generation migrants, experiences of ageing among the Hellenic Diaspora and intergenerational support and the role of family care.
 

People who are interested in attending the conference can make further inquiries:
Tel (+618) 8201 2053 or (+618) 8201 3850

Click here for more information

"If we spent as much time trying to understand behaviour as we spend trying to manage or control it, we might discover that what lies behind it is a genuine attempt to communicate".

The Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing is a Victorian-based organisation supporting the aged care sector to address the needs of older people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

We encourage you to contribute to our e-newsletter. Please submit your culturally-inclusive initiatives, projects, resources and upcoming events. We would love to hear from you.

Email us at: info@culturaldiversity.com.au