Why Cultural Understanding Matters in Aged Care

Around a third of older Australians were born overseas, and in Melbourne’s east that share is higher still. Many older people who have spoken English comfortably for decades find that it slips away with age or illness, and the language of childhood returns. For them, care that ignores language and culture is not just uncomfortable. It is care that misses things.

What goes wrong without it

When a support worker and an older person do not share a language or a cultural frame, small problems compound:

• Pain, confusion or low mood go unreported because the person cannot explain them, or does not feel it is their place to.
• Meals are refused because the food is unfamiliar, and weight loss is put down to ageing.
• Personal care feels undignified when it ignores modesty norms or the preferred gender of a carer.
• Family members who expect to be involved in decisions are sidelined, and the person feels abandoned.
• Religious practices, fasting periods and festivals are overlooked, and care visits land at the wrong times.

None of this comes from bad intent. It comes from a system that is not built around the person.

What culturally safe care looks like

Cultural safety is a term from health care that means the person receiving care decides whether the care felt safe and respectful, not the provider. In practice it means:

• Language first. A worker who speaks the person’s language, or a qualified interpreter for assessments and care planning. Family members should not be the only interpreters for clinical conversations.
• Food that feels like home. Meal preparation that follows the person’s own cooking, not a generic menu with one “Asian” option.
• Faith and ritual built into the schedule. Prayer times, dietary rules, festival days and mourning customs written into the care plan.
• Family roles respected. Understanding who the person wants involved in decisions, and communicating with that person too.
• Workers who ask. Nobody can know every custom, but a worker who asks “how would you like this done?” rarely gets it badly wrong.

How Avida Care does this

Avida Care was founded to serve Chinese-speaking families and that shapes everything we do, wherever in Australia we support you:

• Support workers, nurses and allied health staff who speak Mandarin and Cantonese as well as English.
• Service agreements, care plans and this website available in Chinese.
• Matching on language and, where it matters to the person, on the gender of the worker.
• Flexible visit times around Lunar New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival and other family occasions.
• Ongoing cultural training for every member of our team, including those from other backgrounds.

What you can ask for

Under both Support at Home and the NDIS, cultural and language needs are a legitimate part of your care plan, not an extra favour. You can ask your provider to:

• Record your preferred language and need for an interpreter in your plan.
• Match you with workers who speak your language where available.
• Note dietary, religious and family-involvement preferences in writing.
• Change workers if the match is not working.

If a provider cannot meet these needs, you are free to choose another one.

Talk to us in your language

Avida Care supports older people across Australia in English, Mandarin and Cantonese. Call 0477 399 714 or 0421 986 841, or contact us to talk about care that fits your family.