The History of Dutch Aged Care in Victoria

Dutch aged care was born in 1971 when a group of concerned Dutch people started to look at the future of the Dutch population. They recognised that in the future there would be an increasing number of older persons who were becoming more dependent and who might not have sufficient support systems here in Australia. This group, the Holland Australian Retirement Foundation (HARF), was convinced that something had to be done and eventually some of them used their homes as collateral to purchase the land for the first village. Fundraising increased in 1974 when a ‘Kermis’ or fete was organised. This is now known as the Holland International Festival. Ten years later in 1981 the first units were built and the following ten years saw the development of 56 units, community hall and a 31 bed hostel in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne

In 1983 Avondrust was formed to develop similar services in the southern regions of Melbourne. The Committee worked hard at raising funds through Bingo nights, dance nights, Klaverjas drives and the Dutch community showed their support by investing in Certificates of Deposit. The 40 bed hostel and community hall were completed in May 1993. Grants were received from the Federal government and the Schumacher Kramer Trust in Holland. In 1995, 32 units were completed on the site.

Dutch Australian Community Action was developed in 1992 to meet the needs of those people isolated in the community by providing a friendly visiting service that has now grown to over 150 clients and about the same number of volunteers. DACA also provided an information and referrals service and have conducted studies to investigate the needs of Dutch Australians with the view to promoting their wellbeing, published a community directory and “Old Ties, New Beginnings” the stories of Dutch women migrants. In 1993 it received a grant from the Government to employ a coordinator for the Friendly Visiting Scheme. Early in 1995 a further grant was received to commence Adult Day Activities.

The organisations involved in the formation of DutchCare have for up to 30 years been working towards providing aged care to the Dutch community. DutchCare provides a comprehensive range of both residential and community based aged care services for older frail Dutch speaking people.

These organisations (along with two others) met with the encouragement of the Associated Netherlands Societies of Victoria for some 8 years as the Council of the Dutch Aged. Its initial purpose was to encourage the various aged care providers to talk with each other. The process was slow and for a long time the different groups were suspicious of each other and reluctant to share any significant details.

In 1994 the first aged care workshop for the Dutch Community was arranged with representatives from all states. The gathering went a long way towards getting the organisations talking with each other. Many issues were raised and discussed, but the most significant for the Victorian Dutch Community were the statements by the Federal and State Government representatives that in future they wanted to look at communities as a whole and would not give funding to isolated groups which did not have the backing of the whole community.

The Boards of Avondrust and HARF began meeting to discuss ways of cooperating and soon had to make a decision which would have significant effects on our community. Shortly after the workshop, an opportunity arose that allowed the appointment of a joint CEO of HARF and Avondrust. Further discussions were held with representatives from the Federal department who were happy to see improved cooperation, but could not see any significant funding opportunities as the Dutch were not part of the pilot group of ethnic communities.

The next step was to approach the other Dutch aged care providers to see if they were interested in further cooperation. Of the five, three organisations decided to go ahead and they appointed three members from each board to form the Dutch Steering Committee along with a representative of the Association of Netherlands Societies. This committee was responsible for looking at ways of closer cooperation.

In April 1995 another meeting was held with the Federal Department and subject to a five year plan being developed, the Dutch were given hope of obtaining funding for a nursing home and community aged care packages.

As part of the preparation for the Five-Year Plan and three community consultations were held where interested parties were briefed about the options available to the community in aged care and the priorities were listed. With enormous community support the five-year plan was submitted to the Department of Health and Family Services in September 1995.

In the following months the steering committee worked hard on the issue of amalgamation and aimed for a period of 3-5 years to achieve this. It had to protect the interest of the members and residents and fulfil the outcomes of the plan. It quickly moved from cooperation to consolidation. They knew that to build the nursing home would take the resources of the whole community and each member should have equal access to all DutchCare’s services. The nursing home was the catalyst and members were ecstatic when in December 1995 DutchCare was granted approval in principal for a 30-bed nursing home and would also get 45 Aged Care Packages in 1996/97.

The Dutch Steering Committee became the DutchCare Steering Committee and the lawyers drew up the necessary documents for the new organisation. After much consultation it was decided to move away from an incorporated association and a company limited by guarantee was formed. New articles were drawn up and a trust was established for the new DutchCare nursing home to be built at Avondrust.

In February of 1996 the DutchCare Trust and the new company were launched. In April professional fundraisers started work on a $1 million appeal and in June the Nursing Home appeal was launched with a start of $400,000. Two years later $1.7 million has been raised.

In July meetings were held with each of the organisations to gauge how members felt about amalgamation and in August copies of all the articles and structure were made available to members. There was strong support from members although some questions remained about loss of identity. It was clear that the nursing home was a big selling feature.

In August 1996 the services of an architect were engaged for our 30-bed nursing home and building was commissioned in March 1998. On 1st October 1996 DutchCare Ltd commenced operations.

In February 1997 the Bierman Sajet Aged Care Facility was opened and the Dutch community in Victoria had 30 high care places. In 2001 Princess Margriet Aged Care Facility was opened providing an additional 45 aged care places in the eastern suburbs (40 high, 5 low)

The Current State of Play
DutchCare currently provide the following services to over 700 Dutch in Victoria.
• High Care places 70,
• Low Care places 78,
• Independent Living Units 87 (130 residents);
• Community Aged Care Packages 60;
• Friendly Visiting 150;
• Community Visitors 40;
• Planned Activity Groups 52,
• Telephone monitoring 120;
• Telelink 20
• and an Information and Referral Service.

DutchCare relies on its many volunteers who assist in a variety of ways; direct resident services, craft activities, outings, visiting, fundraising, board members; and currently employs over 190 staff.

Its emphasis is on providing ethnic specific services to the Dutch. Staff, residents and volunteers generally speak Dutch to each other. Dutch meals are cooked, Dutch games are played, Dutch music is listened to, and generally the recipients are more Dutch than those left behind in the Netherlands of the 1950’s.

DutchCare believes that older people are valuable members of society. It aims to provide them with the support they need to achieve the level of independence they want. In all its operations DutchCare supports the recipients’ freedom of choice and involves the recipients and their families or guardians in all decisions affecting their welfare.

DutchCare has a policy of employing qualified Dutch speaking staff and encourages all staff to attend training courses and seminars. Experience to date is that it is becoming more difficult to find the right people to fill any vacancy and the organisation is looking to overseas recruitment. The staff are qualified to carry out on going assessments in consultation with recipients, their families, their GPs’ and other health professionals.

All the services for the aged offered by DutchCare are aimed at Dutch-born people, i.e. Dutch specific. Despite the fact that they seem to be well assimilated, there are a number of reasons why Dutch specific services best suit the Dutch aged. The first is English language loss and language reversal among older migrants. Almost all mainstream services are at a loss when dealing with clients reverting to a language other than English, especially when it is a little known language such as Dutch or one of its dialects. An interesting difference between the Dutch aged care services in Victoria and other states is that so far it caters only for people of Dutch origin in its hostels and nursing home.

Secondly, experience shows that despite the best intentions and improvements over the last few years, mainstream providers either do not really understand the needs of older Dutch Australians or, for obvious reasons, find it extremely difficult to offer them a culturally appropriate service. There are few operators who do it well. However, Dutch specific services can offer culturally appropriate services and staff for older Dutch Australians.

The Dutch word – gezelligheid – (cosiness, atmosphere, sharing, and company) was an important building block. People wanted the choice of communicating in either Dutch or English. They wanted traditional meals, the Dutch level of cleanliness that included vacuuming under furniture and washing windows. They wanted to share their last years reminiscing with others that understood the trauma of the wars in the Netherlands and the migration experience. To share with those who knew what it was like to leave your parents to follow your husband in his dream and now that he is no longer there, having to stay in what you have always called your new land but not your home because you cannot leave your children and your homeland has become alien to you.

DutchCare had to set priorities for what was needed and then prioritize the importance of needs. It was impossible to provide services to each Dutch person who needed them in Victoria, but we believe that any one person helped is better than doing nothing.