Victoria praises mult-lingual home carers

Home carers who can speak their clients’ ethnic language help make services more culturally friendly, according to Victorian Community Services Minister Gavin Jennings

Presenting certificates recently to 25 aged care graduates speaking a total of 23 community languages, Mr Jennings said home and community care (HACC) services needed to be responsive to Victoria’s culturally diverse community.

“As people age and grow frail, they seek comfort from what is familiar, such as their own languages. One in five Victorians speak a language other than English at home, using 180 different languages and dialects. Within four years, so will nearly one in four senior Australians. For home carers, speaking the language of the people you are supporting can be one way of providing more culturally responsive care”, Minister Jennings said.

Melbourne’s northern suburbs have high and growing proportions of seniors born overseas, with two in three Whittlesea residents aged 65 and over being from a migrant background. Half of all the over-65s in Moreland, Yarra and Darebin, and four in 10 living in Hume are migrants.