E-Newsletter - Issue No. 20 / July 2014

Conference Wrap-Up & Excellence Award Winners Announced!

Cultural Diversity in Ageing 2014 Conference: Shaping Inclusive Services

The dynamic and highly successful Cultural Diversity in Ageing 2014 Conference: Shaping Inclusive Services was held at the Melbourne Convention Centre on 12-13 June 2014, with delegates from every state and territory of Australia in attendance.

Over 320 representatives from peak organisations, providers, practitioners, educators, researchers, consumer advocates and individuals with an interest in showcasing best practice and innovative models in the area of culturally inclusive service engaged with over 60 keynote, concurrent and poster presentations across the two days of the event.

We wish to thank Gold Sponsors: Palliative Care Victoria and Polaron Language Services and Sponsors: Ambulance Victoria, Australian Multicultural Community Services, Alzheimer’s Australia Vic, beyondblue, Aged Care Complaints Scheme, Continence Foundation of Australia and Regis.

We would also like to thank the vibrant and engaging Sasha Jovanovic who facilitated the Conference.

The Centre also acknowledges the Australian Government Department of Social Services and the Partners in Culturally Appropriate Care program funding.

Pictured above (from left): Alfred Silivon and Maree Vino, Philippine Health Care Association Australia (NSW), Hussein Ahmed (Diversicare QLD), Ahmed Mohamed

Conference Feature Presentations

Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield, Assistant Minister for Social Services and Senator the Hon Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social Services opened the event with affirmation of the Government’s commitment to the National Ageing and Aged Care Strategy for People from CALD Backgrounds. They also announced that the Government will be allocating $1.5 million to develop tools and resources to help multicultural and ethnic community organisations apply for community and residential aged care packages.

Keynote addresses from Dr Sally Goold OAM and Ms Eugenia Grammatikakis of the Federation of Ethnic Communties’ Council of Australia followed, setting the scene for the rest of the Conference by respectively providing indigenous and ethnic communities’ perspectives to ageing in Australia.

Other keynotes on day 1 of the Conference included Ms Efterpi Soropos who introduced delegates to the concept of Human Rooms and creating inclusive spaces, and Dr Olga Kanitsaki AM who provided insight into what constitutes excellence in culturally inclusive service provision.

On day 2 keynote presenters included Dr Christina Ho, University of Technology, Sydney, who discussed the concept of 'Diversity within Diversity'; Associate Professor Debra King of Flinders University, who tackled the theme of workforce diversity and Dr Helen Feist, University of Adelaide, who provided an overview of research in the area of older people from diverse backgrounds.

The final keynote speaker was Mr Tony Briffa who spoke about his personal journey, advocacy and the diversity within the LGBTI community.

View Keynote Presentations

Pictured above (from left) - Dr Olga Kanitsaki AM and Dr Sally Goold OAM

Pictured below: the Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing team with Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield, Assistant Minister for Social Services and Senator the Hon Concetta Fierravanti-Wells , Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social Services (2nd from right).

Concurrent and Poster Presentations

Delegates were also invited to choose from over 45 concurrent presentations which were designed to highlight current trends, latest resources, as well as and showcase contemporary initiatives in culturally inclusive service delivery.

The presentations spanned a wide range of themes and issues including ageing experiences, ethno-specific care, Consumer Directed Care, social inclusion, rights and advocacy, workforce diversity, workforce training and education, indigenous aged care, LGBTIQ inclusive care, dementia care, palliative care, continence care, healthy ageing, financial planning and carer support.

For the first time, the Conference also provided a networking opportunity for those delegates interested in service provision for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elderly. Our thanks go to Noeleen Tunny from the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) for assisting us in facilitating this session.

View Concurrent Session Presentations

Pictured below: Conference participants engage in discussion at the 'Diversity and Inclusion: key barriers and enablers' workshop run by Jane Lewis

Conference Activities

In addition to the Conference formalities, delegates were able to visit our exhibitor and sponsor stalls, network with other delegates at the social drinks function and treat themselves to free massages sponsored by Benetas.

Delegates were invited to participate in a morning riverside walk sponsored by the Heart Foundation, and view a display of beautiful handcrafted items from SisterWorks and enjoy musical performances by Yannis, Jali Buba Kuyateh and The Eamon and Dudi Project.

Read more about our Conference activities

(Pictured below: Conference participants dancing to Yannis and friend and SisterWorks ladies at their stall of handmade wares)

The Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing Excellence Award Winners Announced!

The Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing launched a new national award scheme to showcase leadership and innovation through quality initiatives that inspires and promotes excellence in the provision of culturally inclusive aged care services, with the inaugural awards presented at this year’s Conference.

The national award scheme aims to:

• Encourage and promote quality leadership and improvement in culturally inclusive provision of aged care services
• Recognise excellence in continuous improvement and innovation
• Promote quality initiatives across the sector

The Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing Excellence Awards 2014 consists of three award categories:

• Excellence within the Not-for-Profit Sector
  Awarded to a community organisation demonstrating outstanding initiatives that support the wellbeing of older people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
   
• Excellence within Aged Care Services
  Awarded to an aged care provider that demonstrates a systematic culturally inclusive approach to service provision in a residential or home based service
   
• The Dr Olga Kanitsaki AM Award for Individual Excellence
  Awarded to an individual who has demonstrated exceptional commitment and initiative in the delivery of culturally inclusive aged care

We are thrilled to announce the winners below - further information on the winners and finalists can be found on our website.

Excellence within the Not-for-Profit Sector

Winner - Villa Maria Society, White Road Out and About Group
(pictured above: Angela Ng accepting the award) 

Villa Maria Society's Out and About Group facilitates active community participation to 30 Chinese speaking elderly people in the eastern region of Melbourne. The group is supported by staff who speak Mandarin, Cantonese and a number of regional dialects.

Use of ethnic media including talk back sessions on SBS have helped shape the Out and About Group initiative and forge ongoing relationship building with participants, their families and the broader community.

Finalists in this category:

• Continence Foundation of Australia - for their Incontinence Outreach in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities approach. This is a comprehensive approach to reaching out to CALD background communities which involves research, piloting resources and finally the development of multilingual web pages and guidelines for health professionals and interpreters in effective, culturally inclusive continence assessments.
   
• Royal District Nursing Service (RDNS) - for the development of the RDNS Diversity Framework; Policy, Planning and Practice 2012 – 2017. The Framework is used as a blueprint to guide the organisation in the delivery of person centred care to clients and carers with diverse needs and from diverse backgrounds.

Read more

Excellence within Aged Care Services

Winner - Multicultural Aged Care Services Geelong Inc. (MACS)
(Pictured above: Joy Leggo accepting the award)

Established in 2004 MACS has consistently demonstrated its dedication to the provision of culturally inclusive care in Geelong.

The success of MACS work has its basis in strong and comprehensive connection to the local community: over 40 ethnicities are represented in the MACS community, it has a community-based multicultural board, stable multicultural and multilingual workforce and numerous volunteers from CALD backgrounds.

Finalists in this category:

• Baptcare – for the development of the Lotus Area at their Westhaven Community Footscray. The Lotus Area was established after extensive community consultations, comprehensive staff training programs and an organisational commitment to responding to the cultural and linguistic diversity of the local community.
   
• Wintringham – has an organisational policy which guides the delivery of services that meet the needs of the diversity in its resident population. In addition to the extensive and culturally responsive recreation program, the service gives particular attention to the planning around end of life choices through acknowledging a person’s cultural and spiritual preferences

Read more

Dr Olga Kanitsaki AM Award for Individual Excellence

Winner - Urfi Mirza
(Pictured above)

Born in India, Urfi Mirza migrated to Australia in 2005. In 2006, Urfi joined aged care organisation, Southern Cross Care (Vic) as a Community Services Care Manager. Before coming to SCC (Vic), Urfi had extensive experience working as a senior social worker and program coordinator with a refugee assistance program.

With a Masters Degree in Social Work and Diploma in Software Engineering, Urfi has worked with international organisations, such as the YMCA and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees assisting refugees/asylum seekers.

Collaborative approach to his work is evident in his involvement in community information sessions about aged care services that were organised by the Australian Turkish Association. He also provided Cultural Awareness sessions to Alzheimer’s Australia Vic on Indian-Tamil and Sri Lankan communities.

Within his own organisation, Southern Cross, Urfi advocates for culturally inclusive initiatives with his general manger and he also mentors new staff (many of whom are from CALD backgrounds) as well as provides supervision for students on placement.

Therese Desmond, Executive Manger Community Services at Southern Cross Care (VIC) in her nomination of Urfi stated "We are indebted to Urfi’s sensitive nature, which enriches him with a great understanding and respect for cultural diversity. We are fortunate to have him as part of our Southern Cross Community family".

Judging Panel

We received many quality nominations from across Australia. We thank the judging panel for their assistance with shortlisting candidates and selecting the winners.

The independent judging panel for 2014 were:

• Annalisa Cannizzaro, Carers Victoria
• Betty Haralambous, National Ageing Research Institute (NARI)
• Nikolaus Rittinghausen, Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria (ECCV)
• Diana Fitzgerald, Leading Age Services Australia, Victoria (LASA)

Further Information

For more on the Cultural Diversity in Ageing 2014 Conference, including presentations and more photos, visit www.culturaldiversity.com.au/conference-2014.