Multilingual health services

There are a wide range of specialist services and programs available to help multilingual Australians over 50 with their healthcare needs, including:

• Multicultural Mental Health Australia
• Incontinence
• Health Translation Online Directory
• Health Welcome Kits
• Older Women’s Network Wellness Centres
• Diabetes Australia Multilingual Resources

Multicultural Mental Health Australia

Multicultural Mental Health Australia is an Australian Government initiative that links a wide range of state and territory institutions to promote the mental health and well being of Australia’s diverse communities. For further information you can visit their website.

Incontinence

Proper assessment, treatment and good management can significantly improve the quality of life for people with incontinence. The condition can sometimes be cured or improved.

The National Continence Management Strategy recognises that people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds need to have information and resources delivered in their community language.

A set of fact sheets and posters about incontinence in 14 languages has been developed. The languages were chosen either because they are the most commonly used languages or the people in the language groups have the least knowledge of English.

Health Translation Online Directory

The Health Translation Online Directory serves as a web portal providing direct links to translated health resources in Victoria, other states and Federal Government resources.

You can search by language and topic. The Directory provides web links to third party sites with translated resources including government departments, peak health bodies, hospitals, and community health and welfare agencies. The Directory currently links up to over 7,000 resources in 58 languages. Additional material is progressively being added.

Health Welcome Kits

Medicare Australia has provided Welcome Kit for new arrivals to Australia and has information about our main health programs, including Medicare. The Kit is translated into 16 community languages and has useful information for everyone, even if they have lived in Australia for some time and is of relevance to new arrivals to Australia in rural and remote areas. For all the relevant information kits visit Medicare Australia.

Older Women’s Network Wellness Centres

Older Women's Network Wellness Centres are non-profit volunteer organisations, managed and run by its members. The aims of the centres are to promote the wellbeing of older women and focus on health promotion, skill development, social action, empowerment and having fun!

There are groups in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Australian Capital Territory and Western Australia, and a national body- OWN Australia, which operates from the Australian Capital Territory.

OWN Wellness Centres aim to:

• involve older women directly.
• acknowledge the full range of factors that contribute to older women's health and wellbeing including societal attitudes, social justice and feelings of isolation.
• promote, acknowledge and utilise older women's knowledge and skills and the vital role life long learning plays.
• encompass the rich diversity of older women's experience and cultural backgrounds.
• include one or more forms of gentle exercise, health and lifestyle information in a discussion format, peer support and social interaction.
• provide an inclusive and welcoming environment where older women from all cultures have fun and support one another.

Diabetes Australia Multilingual Resources

Diabetes and its complications contribute significantly to ill health, disability and premature death in Australia. Early detection and effective management are the keys to diabetes control. Good glucose control can delay the onset and slow the progress of complications in all types of diabetes.

Diabetes Australia has a great set of information sheets which explain the disease and it is available in 13 languages for those where English is their second language. The information sheets come in the following languages:

• Arabic
• Chinese
• Croatian
• Greek
• Hindi
• Italian
• Malaysian
• Serbian
• Spanish
• Thai
• Turkish
• Vietnamese
• Ukrainian

To see these information sheets visit the Multilingual Resources section of the Diabetes Australia website.