Co-designing Communications: Belvedere Aged Care’s Cross-Cultural Program Supporting Italian Speaking Residents

'We learn Italian', Belvedere Aged Care’s new Italian language classes run every Monday to support staff and residents to improve communications with residents of Italian heritage. The program, facilitated by Italian-speaking volunteers, provides knowledge of Italy’s diverse cultures, regions, language and dialects. Set in an informal group, residents and staff engage in a fun and informative session to learn basic phrases in support of Belvedere's non-english speaking Italian residents.

Belvedere Aged Care is situated in Melbourne’s most diverse council areas, the City of Greater Dandenong with residents reflecting the historical cultural diversity of Melbourne’s southeast. Developed in response to the communication needs of Belvedere’s Italian resident community, participants gain knowledge of communication phrases that support the diverse dialects within the Italian language and respects the history and emigration journey of Australia’s first post-war migrants.

With almost two thirds of Belvedere residents of Italian heritage, Belvedere’s language class is part of a two-phase response to support our culturally and linguistically diverse residents. In 2022, Belvedere’s co-design project featured residents along with Karin Blavo , Belvedere’s Lifestyle Manager and the Centre for Diversity in Ageing to redesign the Centre’s communication cards to include phrases that promoted a considered, conversational way of communicating with non-english speaking aged care consumers. Belvedere’s resident participation in this project saw a shift from single word cue cards to using phrases that guide staff to enhance daily interactions with residents.

Belvedere’s Italian classes upon evaluation, aims to be a scaled activity offering language support to other cultural groups in the facility demonstrating Belvedere’s leadership commitment to imbedding cultural competency across all layers of the organisation.

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