Cultural Perspectives and the NSW Ministry of Health – Health and Social Policy Branch were recognised with a highly commended award for their Palliative Care Radio/Podcasts project at the Multicultural Health Communication Awards Ceremony at NSW Parliament House on the 2nd of September. At the event, the Multicultural Health Week 2019 was launched, with this year’s focus to increase equitable access to healthcare and health information for ethnic communities.
The Community Care and Priority Populations, Health and Social Policy Branch, NSW Ministry of Health, engaged Cultural Perspectives to work directly with CALD families, palliative care professionals, industry leaders, and peak bodies to co-design the radio programs/ podcasts that address the sensitive topic of palliative care from the various perspectives of Chinese, Greek, Arabic and Vietnamese communities. The project provides an excellent example of best practice in co-designing multilingual health communications, which have raised awareness of palliative care among the target CALD communities and encouraged conversations around end-of-life planning.
Pino Migliorino, Managing Director of Cultural Perspectives said: “it is an honour to be recognised for this important work about end of life care. It also shows how important it is for government to continue to work with culturally and linguistically diverse communities to ensure they have equitable access to health services. As NSW is one of the most multicultural locations in the world, it is important that we acknowledge our vast cultural diversity and respond effectively. Healthcare is a vital service that everybody, regardless of ethnic background or linguistic skills, should have access to information about.”
The Multicultural Health Communication Awards are presented by the NSW Health Communication Service to celebrate excellence in multilingual health communication across NSW Health and Health-funded non-government organisations (NGOs). There were four award categories this year - patients/consumer partners, integrated care, patient safety and keeping people healthy and competition was of a very high standard. Cultural Perspectives and the Community Care and Priority Populations Unit, Health and Social Policy Branch, NSW Ministry of Health received the runner’s up position in the Patients/Consumers Partner’s category. The winner of the category was the Illawarra Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Local Drug Action Team, with their campaign - Where Can I Get Help When Alcohol or Drugs are a Problem?