Dementia funding for Chinese and South East Asian communities
Posted: Wednesday, 15 September 2010 | By: NSW Labor
The Minister for Disability Services, Peter Primrose, today announced that $864,000 would be provided over two years to the Australian Nursing Home Foundation for dementia-specific day care support for the Chinese and South East Asian communities in the Inner West and South West Sydney areas.
The funding is being provided through the Home and Community Care (HACC) program, a joint initiative of the NSW and Commonwealth Governments.
Mr Primrose made the announcement at the Australian Nursing Home Foundation’s annual Moon Festival Seniors Luncheon, on the eve of National Dementia Awareness Week, which was attended by more than 500 people.
The Moon Festival Seniors Lunch is held for clients and carers from the Foundation’s dementia day care centres and is part of the Chinese Moon Festival, one of the most celebrated events for the Chinese community.
The new funding is in addition to the centre based dementia day care that the Keneally Government already funds for the Chinese community in Ultimo.
Mr Primrose said the new funding for the Inner West was for Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and Vietnamese communities to receive one day of centre based day care a week.
He said that the funding would also provide dementia day care services for a range of culturally diverse groups in South West Sydney for four days a week, including one day a week in Bankstown, Liverpool and Fairfield.
“I welcome the Foundation’s plans to expand its services to people with dementia to a broader range of communities,” Mr Primrose said.
“Providing culturally sensitive support for people with dementia, their families and carers is of increasing importance in NSW”.
“Research shows that of all NSW residents with dementia, around 13% do not speak English at home and of those people who are fluent in English, once they develop dementia it is common that they revert back to their first language”.
Mr Primrose said given an increasing number of people from China and the South East Asian region are living in Sydney, it is appropriate that new services are targeted to these communities.
National Dementia Awareness Week starts tomorrow and runs until September 26, visit www.alzheimers.org.au for more information.
Tags: labor, nsw labor, nsw government, labor party, health, dementia, dementia support in nsw, dementia support in asian communities, western sydney, home and community care, australian nursing home foundation’s, moon festival seniors luncheon, national dementia awareness week, the minister for disability services, peter primrose