Cultural Diversity in Ageing 2010 Victorian State Conference

Culturally Inclusive Quality Care at the End Of Life

Download conference program (PDF 166 KB)

The Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing hosted yet another successful annual state conference and expo this year on 12th October attracting 200 delegates from across the aged care and health sectors. This year’s theme, Culturally Inclusive Quality Care at the End-of-Life, provided a platform for discussing areas such as advance care planning, palliative care and pastoral and spiritual care and promoting culturally inclusive initiatives across the aged care and health sectors.

The conference opened with a Welcome to Country by Wurundjeri Elder Colin Hunter followed by keynote addresses from Sir James Gobbo AC, who spoke of his long-standing experiences advocating for accessible and equitable services for people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and his on-going work in the area of palliative care, and Professor Megan-Jane Johnstone from Deakin University, who presented findings from her research into cultural differences in end-of-Life decision making.

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.

The conference was made possible through funding provided by the Australian Government of Health and Ageing Partners in Culturally Appropriate Care (PICAC) program and was a combined initiative between the Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing and the Community Partners Program funded organisations here in Victoria.

Linda Tan_Migrant Resource Centre