Gwelup Aged Care provider in harmony with cultural diversity
There is no better time to celebrate cultural diversity than Harmony Week - just ask the team at BaptistCare David Buttfield Centre Residential Aged Care in Gwelup.
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13 April 2021
News
| Aged Care Homes
Thirty of their dedicated employees are from countries other than Australia, including Italy, Ethiopia, Chile, Iran, Ireland and Zimbabwe.
In a Harmony Week nod to their rich and diverse backgrounds, team members ran a series of multicultural activities, much to the delight of the residents who also hail from various birthplaces.
Enrolled Nurse Almaz Gerbu hosted a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony.
Residents got to explore traditional Ethiopian dress and hear about life back in Almaz’s homeland.
Almaz has been working at BaptistCare DBC since 2017 and said looking after the older generation is an important part of the Ethiopian culture.
CEO Russell Bricknell said over 650 of BaptistCare’s 1400+ employees speak another language in addition to English.
“As the Western Australian population becomes more diverse, so does the diversity of people living in Baptistcare’s residential aged care facilities,” he said.
“In addition to encouraging a culturally diverse workforce, we are also seeing an increasing need for foreign language volunteers to become visitors in our residential aged care facilities., he said.
Over the past 12 months, BaptistCare has called for volunteers fluent in French, Spanish, Dutch, Malay, Burmese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Italian, Croatian, Macedonian, and Greek.
Mr Bricknell said foreign language staff and volunteers play an essential role in extending friendship and conversation to residents with dementia and memory loss for whom English is a second language.
“The language which is less familiar and not as deeply embedded into their memory is often lost first, which is the most often the English they have learned when moving to Australia.”
Harmony Week is an annual event that promotes inclusiveness, respect, and a sense of belonging for everyone.
For more information about Residential Care, please follow this link or contact us on 1300 275 227.