Culturally appropriate - resources

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

• Watch this 10 minute videos where Chris Thorne (Aboriginal Community support Worker- Koolin Balit) talks about Taking care of Dying Time.
• This leaflet from Department of Health and Aged care, Caring for your mob at the end of their life explains why it is important to talk about and plan for end of life care.
• Talking about dying is not easy. The Dying to talk discussion starter for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples will guide you through those discussions. You can download the discussion starter.
• The South Australian Government booklet: Advance care yarning (1.14MB pdf) is a useful resource that you can provide to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to help explain the importance of advance care planning in respecting patient choices.
• The CareSearch Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Care section brings together a range of resources on culturally safe and responsive care; the care journey; patient family and community journeys and research, evidence and practice resources.
• CareSearch: Relevant health organisations section gives you links to many aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health services and Organisations. This may be useful if you are looking for a national service, or those specific to states and territories. They are listed as general, palliative care, disease specific and aging services and supports.
• Often people are not sure how they can provide care for their families and communities. CareSearch: How do I provide care for my family and community? offers resources on providing care and support for carers.
• The Australian Indigenous Health InfoNet has a palliative care and end of life portal.

Care leavers

• For a practical support to offer care leavers or forgotten Australians, Helping Hand have created a brochure with the Top 10 questions for forgotten Australians/ Care Leavers (708kb pdf) to ask when looking for residential care. By comparing services, a more culturally safe place may be found.
• If you are caring for someone who identifies as a care leaver of forgotten Australian, you can find free counselling services by calling TEL: 1800 008 774 / 0425 204 747 or visit Care Leavers of Australia Network (CLAN): about support.
• When supporting care leavers, you may find it useful to provide details of services that can help with counselling, birth certificates and family restoration. The Child Migrants Trust provide various services and practical help.

Cultural and linguistically diverse people

• To access support for people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, visit the My Aged Care website. They have links to interpreter services, information in other languages, videos in other languages contact and details of organisations that work as Partners in Culturally Appropriate Care (PICAC).
• For tips on providing culturally appropriate support and care within the community, aged care and health industry, Diversicare: little book of Cultural tips (1.58MB pdf) gives some practical advice that will help you get started. 

Palliative care and carer resources in various languages:

• CareSearch multicultural videos
• Cancer Council Victoria: resources in other languages
• Palliative Care Victoria: Community Languages
• Palliative Care Australia: Multilingual resources
• Carer Gateway: resources in your language
• Department of Health and Aged Care: Palliative care resources in various languages
• Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing: multilingual resources.

Profiles of various cultures:

• Buddhist Council of Victoria: Buddhist Care for the Dying (422kb pdf)
• Loddon Mallee Regional Palliative Care Consortium: An outline of different cultural beliefs at the time of death (434kb pdf)
• Eastern Palliative Care: Cultural profiles to assist in providing culturally sensitive palliative care (1.16MB pdf)
• Eastern Health: Culturally significant events (308kb pdf)
• Eastern Health: Death and dying - religious and cultural considerations (73kb pdf)
• Palliative Care Victoria: Culturally and linguistically diverse resources cultural profiles
• Meaningful Ageing Australia: Muslim Aged Care: A practical guide for service providers (2.0MB pdf)
• Hindu Council of Australia: A guide for Health Care Professionals and Pastoral Care Workers (1.45MB pdf).

Homelessness

• If you need help now for someone who is experiencing homelessness, Homelessness Australia have contact details of various support services throughout Australia.
• The Homeless Palliative Care Toolkit is a set of resources designed for health professionals working with people who are homeless to use to recognise deterioration and help to get access to and plan person centred care.
• In Melbourne, the Inner North West Primary Care Partnership: Health access protocol is a set of guidelines created to build pathways between primary health services, mental health services and the homeless sector to improve access to services. There a four tools for workers, a guide to accessing services, guidelines for making referrals, key access points in health and guidelines for receiving referrals.

Intellectual disability

• If you work with people who have an intellectual disability and would like resources that give practical advice relating to palliative care visit Talking End of Life: resources section.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex

• National resource centre on LGBT aging have a variety of resources across a range of LGBTI aging topics including end of life decisions.
• ASHM: Aged care workers and HIV and Ageing provide a booklet for aged care workers that busts the myths around HIV and life expectancy as more people with HIV are starting to access aged care. It is in plain English and also provides a list of useful contacts.
• If you are supporting someone that is caring for a person who identifies as LGBTI the Carer Gateway: LGBTI resources section is a great place to find information and support.
• The Silver Rainbow: ageing and aged care educates service providers and policy makers how to meet the needs of LGBTI elders. Due to historical prejudice and discrimination, often LGBTI elders cannot or will not disclose their identities and remain invisible within the aged care sector and the community. The LGBTIQ+ Health Australia: Silver Rainbow section provide resources and training opportunities.
• The Department of Health and Aged Care: Actions to Support LGBTI Elders- a guide for consumers is available to download. This publication can be used to help those working in aged care to better understand LGBTI needs. It is also a useful resource for LGBTI elders to understand how to express their needs to aged care providers.
• LGBTI Health Alliance: Inclusive Language guide (380kb pdf) is a useful guide for understanding why we should use inclusive language and some basic terms. This is particularly useful when communicating with others as it demonstrates a respect for how people describe their own genders, bodies, and relationships.
• To check whether your organisation is an inclusive service, use this audit tool provided by Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria (GLHV) to recognise your achievements and identify areas for improvement GLHV: GLBTI inclusive practice audit (209kb pdf).

Older people

• To access a free USB with educational short animations that cover topics such as spirituality, planning palliative and end of life care, visit Meaningful Ageing Australia: resources.
• The Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing offer Aged Care Signage in various languages. They can be downloaded and used in care facilities to help residents navigate around their home or service.
• Dementia Australia: Resources section has a variety of resources such as videos, help sheets, translated information in community languages, resources for CALD communities and people who identify as LGBTI.
• Resources for people Caring for someone living with dementia can be found at My Aged Care. This website provides carers with information about what support is available, working with health professionals and making financial and legal decisions.

Rural and remote areas

• To provide people with more information relating services available in rural and remote areas, visit My Aged Care Support for people living in rural and remote areas.

Veterans

• If a veteran or family member that you are caring for needs immediate help, call Open Arms 24 hours: 1800 011 046. Open Arms: Veterans and families counselling offer services to veterans that are currently serving, ex- serving and families.
• An effect of serving in the military can include feeling of loss or grief due to traumatic experiences and losing the sense of belonging during times of transition. To understand more and find resources, visit GriefLink: resources and helpline.
• If you would like to access resources for clinicians relating to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) such as assessment tools and treatment manuals visit the, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies: Trauma assessment.
• The PalliAGED: Veterans section provides useful resources for health professionals accessing end of life care for veterans, communication strategies and caring for the mental health of veterans.
• Veterans’ Mates is a program designed to support veterans and their families to manage their health. This service provides educational material about medicines and health services that is tailored to the veterans needs and gives feedback to treating doctors.