Aged Care Facility for Indians Long Overdue

By Sachin Maharaj

There has been significant growth in Australia’s Indian diaspora over the last 20 years with India being Australia’s biggest source of migrants since 2016. Indians are now the second largest migrant population after England, making up 2.8 per cent of Australia’s population last year – a bigger share than both China (2.5 per cent) and New Zealand (2.2 per cent). Whilst the more recent migrants are in the younger age group, there is a growing number of ‘senior’ Indians who are in the 65 to 85+ age bracket.

Based on a recent study done by Adam Byrnes, Managing Director of Think Planners, there is significant demand for an aged care facility for the senior Indian community, for a tailored facility that caters directly to their ethnic needs. Specifically tailored diets, activities, spiritual needs and care from same/similar language/cultured staff are regularly highlighted as areas that would greatly benefit and provide an environment conducive to the needs of Indian seniors during an important period of their lives.

Having done my own case study through interviews of over 100 senior Indian citizens in Sydney, I have also reached the same conclusion, that there is an urgent and pressing need for tailored aged care facilities for the Indian community.

Mr Byrnes was surprised that there was no facility in Sydney (and indeed in Australia) to provide for aged care for the Indian community.

Eight years ago, when I was confronted with the medical advice to move my mum to an aged care facility, I visited quite a number of aged care sites run by Anglicare, Baptist Care, Bupa to name a few. My mum ended up in Bupa Care facility and spent the last 3 years of her life there before she sadly passed away. Whilst the care provided was of a very high standard, it could not cater for some of her key requirements – diet, culture, language, religion and traditions/festivals. However, as there was no choice, we were forced to accept the best option available. It is important for our parents when they move out of their home permanently in such demanding situations that they are made to feel as much as possible that they are in a similar environment to their own home.

In the absence of an aged care facility for Indians, there are many known cases where the elderly that require full time care are persevering in their own homes which is obviously stressful for their spouse and their children (if they are living with them) and the patient is often not getting a satisfactory level of care.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare note in the publication “Older Australia at a Glance” that older people from a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) background benefit from aged care services specifically tailored for them.  The Australian Government is committed to ensuring equitable access to high quality, culturally appropriate aged care for people with CALD backgrounds.

Many organisations offer specific diets, activities, languages or spiritual needs tailored for specific cultural, linguistic or spiritual backgrounds. There are aged care facilities for Spanish, Greek, Italian, Vietnamese, Lebanese and Chinese to name a few.

Indian seniors in Aged Care have an increasing need to connect with other Indian seniors and engage in activities together which may include walking, engaging in celebrating festivals or simply having a cup of chai and talking about politics or cricket or watching Indian movies and TV serials. To this end, some key requirements in a tailored Aged Care Facility for Indians should include the following:

• Subcontinent Food, snacks, sweets and drinks catered for by Indian chefs;
• A separate kitchen for strict vegetarians;
• Indian speaking doctors, nurses, carers and volunteer workers;
• Celebration and participation in key Indian festivals;
• Indian media – TV, newspaper, movies, Radio;
• Yoga Classes and other recreational activities suited to the elderly e.g. Chess, Carom Board.

By offering specific diets, activities, languages and spiritual needs tailored for the Indian Senior’s cultural, linguistic and spiritual backgrounds, the residents will be given the opportunity to be cared in a place similar to their own home and look forward to establishing connections and relationships which allows them to remain connected to the communities they have grown to treasure throughout their lifetime.

Whilst there are a few Indian community groups taking some initiatives and steps towards assisting the elderly in their community, a fully fledged aged care facility remains begging for the ever-growing Indian population in Sydney and Australia. Other ethnic communities, ‘significant’ as well as ‘minor’ have had financial grants at State level and some at federal level as well to establish their respective aged care facilities. Securing financial support will also be a key imperative for the Indian Community to develop an aged care facility of substance to cater for the pressing and urgent need for the Indian seniors who need aged care.