Diverse Care

Jenny Semple, Chief Executive Officer, Melbourne Australia

Diversity  Respect  Empowerment  Participation  Resilience

1993: Established with 13 staff employed, funded by Federal and State government.

2012:Now employs 68 full-time and part-time staff, and 90 casual staff, plus 50 volunteer staff.

Overview of the SMRC

Aged Care•Home and Community Care services •Community Aged Care packages•Access and Equity programs

Settlement•Refugee casework/Case Management•Family support and counselling services for refugees•Youth casework and activities •Community Development projects•Parenting programs

Social Enterprise•Migration advice •Diverse Care

SMRC Programs

The Ageing population

• In Australia, the older population usually describes those 65 years of age and over.

• The cultural diversity of older people from multicultural backgrounds has been growing, which reflects post WW2 immigration policies.

• In the 2006 census, 35% of the population was born overseas. Of this group, 39% came from English-speaking countries, 61% from non-English-speaking countries.

The Ageing population

• Older people from non-English-speaking countries numbered 583,200 compared with 370,500 from the main English-speaking countries, and 1,780,400 born in Australia

• 1 in 5 older Australians come from non-English speaking backgrounds. This segment of the population is growing at a faster rate than others.

• In the 2006 census, the most common countries of birth for non-English-speaking older Australians were from Italy (113,900) and Greece (57,200).

©AIHW 2007, Older Australia at a Glance (4th edition). Cat. No AGE 52. Canberra: AIHW

The beginning :

Diverse Care

Where are we now?

Diverse Care

What is Diverse Care?

• A pool of qualified bilingual personal care workers• Provides HACC (Home & Community Care) services to

people from English-speaking and multicultural backgrounds in their homes

• Personal care• Home care• Meal preparation• Respite• Transport• Diverse Care started with funding from Dept of Health in

1998 however it is now self funded

How Diverse Care works

What people need to become a Diverse Care worker?

To be bilingual or multilingual in a certain language (those that are in demand)

To be fit and able to do the required work

To have empathy and understanding of frail and elderly people

To be an Australian Citizen

To be qualified in HACC (Home and Community Care) Certificate III / Aged Care Cert III

To have a full Australian drivers licence a fully insured car

To pass a current police check

Challenges in 2012• Recruiting bilingual staff to match the language needs of clients• Matching geographical area for client and worker• Remaining competitive in the aged care sector at a time of

national health reforms/ changes• Continuous training and support for workers, as determined by

changing requirements of job – i.e. cost, capacity to keep up with changes in aged care sector

• Monitoring workers tasks to ensure they don’t over commit and over step boundaries

• New Initiatives in program to ensure continuous improvement• Supporting an ageing work force