Meet Annie: the Groundbreaking App Transforming Dementia Care for the Greek-Speaking Aged Care Workforce

In an Australian-first initiative, the Fronditha Care Foundation, in collaboration with Dementia Australia, has created the first ever in-language adaption of the dementia training app Ask Annie. The tool is transforming the way aged care staff can provide more compassionate care for clients living with dementia, by equipping them with culturally tailored training resources.

Fronditha Care has been at the forefront of providing culturally appropriate care for nearly 50 years in Melbourne and New South Wales.

The aged care provider specialises in delivering a bilingual bicultural model of care primarily for elders of the Greek community, meaning that many of its staff speak Greek as their first language.

While this enhances Fronditha Care’s ability to deliver culturally appropriate care for more than 1,500 Greek elders, it can present challenges when it comes to training. And, as the number of elders ageing in place living with dementia continues to increase, Fronditha Care wanted to strengthen its personal care workers’ dementia support skills, so they could provide the best possible care.

However, most of the training resources available were only offered in English, so Fronditha Care, through its charitable arm, the Fronditha Care Foundation, worked with Dementia Australia to adapt their English-language Ask Annie app for Greek-speaking staff.

The app, which simulates real-life scenarios and provides practical advice, was translated and customised to ensure it met the cultural and linguistic needs of Fronditha Care’s workforce.

Personal care worker Evangelos, who grew up in Cyprus and moved to Australia five years ago to continue his career in health care, was one of the first to try the app.

“Having worked in health care for so long, I have a good understanding of dementia, but there’s always something to learn because every client is different and requires different levels of care. Sometimes, you need advice for how to deal with very specific situations with clients,” said Evangelos.

“Before Ask Annie, there were no resources in Greek that could offer quick, easily understandable advice.

“My manager suggested I use Ask Annie to build on my previous experience working with clients with dementia.”

‘Annie’ is an experienced care worker who guides workers through different real-life scenarios, offering practical tips and strategies for handling challenges like client communication and behavioural issues.

For example, one module demonstrates how to manage situations when a client is angry and refuses to take a shower, helping caregivers understand the anger and best support the client.

Working with Dementia Australia, Fronditha Care translated and recorded 54 video scripts and voiceovers into Greek to ensure greater educational accessibility for its Greek-speaking workforce.

The lessons take 4-5 minutes to complete, workers can search in the app to quickly solve problems and find timely advice.

“It’s like social media for dementia care with quick, informative videos. Being able to watch them in my own time is very convenient,” Evangelos said.

The Greek version of the Ask Annie training app is now part of Fronditha Care’s Learning and Development program for all Greek-speaking staff and has been a resounding success for all of Fronditha Care’s personal care workers and Evangelos and other Fronditha Care staff have embraced the opportunity.

“All of my colleagues who have used Ask Annie found it a great tool and I hope more people will have the opportunity to use it one day. It’s not only built our understanding of dementia, but has also helped improve our clients’ experience.”

Evangelos said, “It’s been a great support to our whole team and meant we can provide the best care possible for our elders.”

The project is a model that can be adapted by other organisations to support an aged care workforce. Evangelos hopes the initiative continues to grow so that people of other languages can have the same support as him and his team when caring for people living with dementia.

Find out more about Fronditha Care