Specialised Healthcare For Asian Residents
In Asian tradition, parents look after children who, in turn, look after parents: elderly relatives being cared for inside the family is something that Asians take great pride in. There are, however, several situations in which no matter how much a family wants to care for their parents or grandparents, their medical needs cannot be met at home.
A modern reality is that the Asian extended family dynamics have changed, children may have moved away from the family home or all family members work – there is therefore no one who can look after parents or grandparents at home. Gradually and reluctantly, some British Asian children are realising they can no longer care for their parents. But the decision to have someone else care for them is not one taken lightly.
To many of the current elderly Asian generation, it is important that they are cared for by carers with similar cultural and religious values.
When Sunflower Healthcare opened Neem Tree Care Centre, a state-of-the-art care home in Greenford, Middlesex, it did so with the aim of addressing this issue. The centre is designed, built and run to offer specialised healthcare for Asian residents.
Neem Tree opened earlier this year and provides nursing and dementia care over three floors – up to two of which are dedicated for residents from an Asian background .
Staff are multi-lingual with most staff fluent in Gujarati, Punjabi or Hindi, the food is prepared according to religious requirements in a separate kitchen, and the home boasts its own cinema room showing Bollywood classics and a variety of Asian programmes. A flatscreen TV with Asian channels is available in every room, including the lounges. A range of activities is also run over popular Asian festivals.
“We are acutely aware of the sensitivities of the Asian culture and religious beliefs and our style of care reflects this,” says Meera Shah, director of Sunflower Healthcare. “Our staff are specifically recruited with the correct language skills so they are able to communicate fully with our Asian residents and are aware of specific needs, such as same-sex carers.
“Our aim is to always provide a full and varied activities programme, which is planned in consultation with the wishes of the residents. Special arrangements are made for birthdays and other celebrations, such as satsangs (reading, reflecting on and discussion of scriptures) in our prayer room or garden parties in our beautifully maintained sensory garden.”
The way food is prepared and served is also a significant part of what Neem Tree offers Asian residents.
Its menus cater for different Asian ethnic groups, with a choice of dishes at every mealtime. All meals are freshly prepared by the home’s expert cooks in modern kitchens. Neem Tree’s cooks provide popular regional Asian cuisines including Gujarati, Punjabi and south Indian. It also caters for residents who are strict vegetarians – it has a separate, fully vegetarian kitchen to ensure that all ingredients, appliances and utensils are kept apart. Cultural preferences are observed and respected. Diets that require certain foods be omitted and ingredients be sourced and prepared in a specific way are strictly adhered to. Residents may also wish, for example, to fast or eat certain foods on particular days. The home does its best to enable this so long as it is not detrimental to residents’ health.
“Good food is one of life’s greatest joys and we pride ourselves in providing traditional home cooked Asian food,” says Shah. “Food not only provides pleasure and sustenance, but also defines who we are. Our menus reflect our residents’ choices so as to provide them with food they are comfortable with, and at the same time ensuring all meals are nutritionally balanced.”
The prayer room is open to all religions and is intended as a place for quiet contemplation. At times it can also be a social place to hold small group prayers. The home’s dedicated activities co-ordinator ensures that all faiths are recognised in term of events within the home, as well as with external visits to, for example, local temples and churches.
The home’s name is significant in that the neem tree is variously known as ‘sacred tree’, ‘heal all’, ‘nature’s drugstore’ and ‘village pharmacy’. It grows prolifically throughout South Asia, especially in India, Sri Lanka and Burma. Products made from the neem tree have been used in India for more than two millennia for their medicinal properties.
The response to the home’s opening has been positive, and it has gone a long way to changing many people’s perception of what a care home is in the Asian community.
“We are confident that the care centre will be successful and will become a much-needed asset for the local community, says Shah. “We are working hard to create something special.” 2011-08-23 10:04:00
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