news
Staff rally around Fiji victims
Image: Montefiore Randwick Nursing Home staff Sara Moses, Manish Giri, Santu Bhusal, Reecha Dhital, Ishwori Baral and Anita Bastakoti. Photo: Montefiore Nursing Home
Workers raise funds for relief when cyclone hits families of their colleagues.
Staff members at Montefiore Nursing Home in Randwick, Sydney, have banded together to help their Fijian colleagues whose families were affected by Cyclone Winston.
Following the cyclone, which hit Fiji in March this year, staff held a fundraising dinner to help those affected.
Sara Moses, neighbourhood coordinator at the nursing home and spokesperson for the Fijian staff, said the dinner was initiated by the Nepalese nursing staff, who wanted to support their Fijian co-workers after having received the same treatment last year following the Nepal earthquake.
RN Reecha Dhital, spokesperson for the Nepalese staff, said that last year staff collected and sent blankets, clothes and first-aid kits over to Nepal after the earthquake there, and organised a fundraising dinner. Over 140 people attended, including staff from all departments and partners. All up, attendees as well as staff who weren’ t able to make the event helped raise more than $ 2000.
The more recent dinner, for Fiji, was held at Bonolota Restaurant in Rockdale, where about 50 people attended. Moses said it was lovely to see two different cultures coming together.“ More than $ 2500 was raised and, again, staff who couldn’ t make the dinner made contributions.”
Former staff member Gai Hilton, who lives in Fiji, was made treasurer and helped to ensure that the funds were passed on to the appropriate people.
The staff also organised a clothing appeal that was broadcast throughout Montefiore.“ We were overwhelmed by the response we got,” Moses said.“ We got boxes and boxes of clothes.”
Dhital said:“ We want to come together to raise funds for our families affected by a disaster back home or even here in Australia. We are fortunate to have a wonderful team that works and socialises well together. Montefiore is like an extended family.” ■
Ageing well overseas
The needs of older Australians born in foreign countries are subject of new research.
From all the lands on Earth we come, but how do we fare once we get here? Researchers hope to answer part of this question through a new project that aims to find the best ways to help people from foreign lands ageing in Australia stay connected with their social networks.
University of Queensland researchers have partnered with Diversicare, the community-care division of the Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland for the three-year project.
The team is led by professor Jolanda Jetten from the UQ School of Psychology and Dr Shuang Liu from UQ’ s School of
Communications and Arts. Its aim is to better understand how older people from culturally and linguistically diverse( CALD) backgrounds experience ageing in Australia by looking at the factors that contribute to social isolation and low wellbeing.
Jetten said:“ Older people from [ different ] cultural backgrounds are at increased risk of social isolation as they age in a foreign land. There is evidence that they may be more vulnerable to diminished self-esteem, depression, poor psychological wellbeing and increased mortality.
Using mixed methods, the researchers aim to find out when and how engagement in ethno-cultural and multicultural activities enhances social connectedness, community integration and wellbeing.
Diversicare general manager Vivienne McDonald said the research would deepen Diversicare’ s knowledge and inform strategies used to care for older people from CALD backgrounds.
“ This research will maximise the effectiveness of our community care in assisting CALD older adults in ageing well by remaining socially connected and active,” McDonald said.“ We hope to gain greater insight into what works, for whom and why.”
This project is being funded in part by a grant from the Australian Research Council. ■
4 agedcareinsite. com. au