A stalled migration program and a lack of effective government initiatives have led to an acute shortage of aged care workers serving multicultural communities in Australia, industry experts say.
"I have been working in multicultural community services for 30 years and I have never seen this level of workforce shortage," Elizabeth Drozd, CEO of Australian Multicultural Community Services (AMCS), told SBS News.
"We have seniors who are asking us to help them live at home and support them and, unfortunately, we are really struggling to recruit enough staff," she said.
With a team of 140 volunteers and 230 paid staff, AMCS has been serving multicultural seniors in Victoria for the past 39 years.
While many of its 1,700 clients speak English, those who have dementia often revert to their mother tongue, Ms Drozd said.
To provide adequate support to these clients, AMCS heavily relies on migrant workers who speak multiple languages.
"Before COVID, Australia used to accept 80,000 to 200,000 immigrants every year. During COVID, that has reduced to 40,000 and that has really impacted home care and aged care for those from multicultural communities," she said.
An Australian Bureau of Statistics report, released in March 2021, charts the drop in Australia's migration numbers.
According to the report, in the 12 months to September 2020, Australian net overseas migration was 85,100, which was 64.5 percent lower than the previous 12-month period.
Elizabeth Drozd, CEO of Australian Multicultural Community Services. Source: Supplied
The number of migrants has continued to decline since the report was filed, Ms Drozd said, and little is being done by the government to fix that issue.
"Unfortunately, I just don’t see enough is being done to alleviate the situation," Ms Drozd said.
She said a special visa needs to be created to incentivise migrants overseas to work in the industry and fill the .
In the absence of immediate action, Ms Drozd said, many seniors such as 88-year-old Maria Mesiano may lose the critical support they need.
Ms Mesiano lives in the suburb of Altona North in Melbourne’s west, has dementia, and heavily relies on the company and the support she receives from aged care worker Tina Parisi.
"At the moment, I have 11 clients of three nationalities: Italian, Maltese and Polish," Ms Parisi, who works six days a week and hasn't had a holiday for more than a year, told SBS News.
In an ideal world, the 60-year-old carer would prefer to work five days a week, take a holiday every six months and tend to eight clients instead of the 11 she is currently taking care of.
But Ms Parisi knows that is not an option. "The demand is too high," she says, adding she refuses to abandon the people who desperately need her.
Ms Parisi admits her job is taking its toll and she is not sure how long she can go on for.
"Sometimes the mental strain is more than physical because when you go to clients, [often] they’re upset or sad or reminiscing things and it drains you a bit," she said.
As well as taking care of senior citizens, aged care workers like Ms Parisi play a pivotal role in communicating crucial pandemic-related information on the importance of vaccines and booster shots to their aged care clients.
"When someone doesn’t speak English and gets information in [different] languages, they tend to bundle them up together and [misconstrue] things," Ms Parisi said.
In a statement to SBS News, a federal Department of Health spokesperson highlighted a range of initiatives the government has launched since the start of the pandemic to support culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) elderly people in Australia.
"On 8 December 2020, the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities COVID-19 Health Advisory Group was established … The advisory group meets monthly and publishes a communique following each meeting. The advisory group membership includes public health and medical experts and representatives from a range of organisations representing multicultural seniors in Australia," the spokesperson said.
"As part of the 2021-22 Budget, the Australian government is investing $5.1 million to continue the Embrace Multicultural Mental Health Program, delivered by Mental Health Australia, which ensures the mental health system reflects and responds well to Australia’s diverse CALD population and provides quality and culturally responsive care."
While Ms Drozd acknowledges the support – including $1.2 million in Victorian government funding announced on 17 January to tackle COVID misinformation in multicultural communities – she feels a lot more needs to be done urgently.
"I would like to acknowledge that the federal and state governments have been implementing various initiatives, but whatever has been done is not enough," she said.
"Make a special visa for those who want to come from overseas and work in the key industries and support the senior population," she said.
