Cultural Diversity in Ageing 2007 National Conference
Following the success of the inaugural 2005 conference, the Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing held the Cultural Diversity in Ageing 2007 National Conference on 7-8th June at the Sofitel Melbourne.
With the theme ‘Behind every person is a long journey. Meeting the aged care needs our culturally and linguistically diverse community,’ the conference attracted around 300 delegates from every state and territory in Australia.
Keynote speakers included Lena Morris from Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative, who highlighted some of the aged care needs of our Indigenous communities. Voula Messimeri-Kianidis from the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA) made a number of recommendations, including greater flexibility of service design and delivery and alignment of aged care strategies with changing demographics.
Demographic perspectives were provided by consultant gerontologist Dr Anna Howe, who explored the diversity in Melbourne’s ageing population and resulting implications for community care services, and Dr Diane Gibson from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, who examined patterns of ageing and service use nationally.
Award-winning writer Arnold Zable engaged the audience in a moving reverie as he explored the act of story-telling and the art of creative listening, giving voice to some of the many migrant stories that make up our cosmopolitan society, and reminding delegates of the privilege of working with elderly people from diverse backgrounds.
Aged care industry perspectives were provided by Greg Mundy from Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA) and Gerard Mansour from Aged and Community Care Victoria (ACCV). Gerard Mansour outlined ACCV’s policy recommendations, including a national planning framework to address the needs of elderly people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Greg Mundy stressed that ‘cultural diversity is core business’ and outlined the idea of a ‘cultural pool’ of funding to assist providers in the delivery of culturally appropriate aged care, one of the recommendations in ACSA's national policy position.
Associate professor Nicholas Procter from the University of South Australia discussed the importance of mainstream services becoming better connected with the communities they serve. Professor Megan-Jane Johnstone from RMIT University explored how we can respond more appropriately and effectively to the ‘right to health’ of our culturally diverse ageing population, which is generally underserved by local health care and other social services compared to the average Australian-born population.
Melba Marginson from the Victorian Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Coalition explored the concept of ‘positive ageing’ as seen by women from small and emerging communities, while best-selling author Alice Pung spoke with humour and tenderness about growing up with her Chinese-Cambodian grandmother and her experience of being a ‘cultural mediator’ between generations and family narratives.
The Federal Minister for Ageing, the Hon Christopher Pyne, also addressed the conference, taking the opportunity to announce funding for additional translations of the Multilingual Resident Handbook function, which enables residential aged care providers to easily compile and publish resident handbooks in multiple languages and thereby supply residents and their families with essential information in their preferred language.
During the afternoon concurrent sessions, aged care providers highlighted culturally responsive service initiatives. Topics included culture and language, management considerations, ageing in specific communities, future challenges for aged care services, and the role of partnerships and collaboration in service planning and development.
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