Retirement in New Zealand is not as carefree and smooth for older Chinese immigrants as outsiders might imagine.
A 74-year-old daughter and her 96-year-old mother rely on each other. When the daughter had to return to her home country for several months, she had no choice but to place her mother in a rest home. With limited mobility, her mother spent most of her time after breakfast sitting on the same chair. Nobody would ask what she needed.
Unable to find a caregiver to help at night, she struggled to use the toilet on her own and fell several times. Unable to get up, she could only sleep on the floor until a caregiver found her the next day and helped her back into bed.
The helpless mother often cried and begged her daughter to take her home. She did not want to return to a rest home where most residents were European.
Despite feeling powerless and being in poor health herself, the daughter currently has no choice but to care for her mother on her own.
“I am getting older and my health is getting worse. I cannot stand or walk. I feel completely helpless now. My own health is even worse than my mother's. I am overweight, have high blood pressure, have had joints replaced in both legs and have suffered many illnesses. I feel particularly powerless when caring for my mother.”
“I hope someone who speaks Chinese will come and help us.”
Without enough information, they do not know whom to turn to
Although people whose first language is Chinese, whether Cantonese or Mandarin, make up the largest share of Auckland's Asian population, staff providing Chinese-language services within New Zealand's disability organisation network are very scarce. Across its 21 organisations, there are only 3 Chinese-speaking staff members.
“Because of cultural differences, these older people are unable to receive full understanding and comprehensive care when they seek help.” Lin Hao, Asian Development Manager at the Independent Living Charitable Trust, phoned to learn more about the mother and daughter described above.
The mother had not received good care at the rest home. Language barriers and a lack of Chinese-speaking caregivers may have been among the reasons.
If increasing the number of Chinese-speaking caregivers in hospitals or rest homes is not possible, a more practical approach may be to strengthen education: help those potentially affected better understand their circumstances, take preventive measures and obtain suitable products and equipment through specialist channels.
Lin Hao has recently encountered many cases of older Chinese people falling while showering at home, in their gardens or while out attending activities. Injuries from accidental falls have temporarily restricted their mobility. Some already meet New Zealand's definition of a disabled person.
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Lin Hao pointed out that these falls often have underlying practical causes, such as a lack of relevant knowledge among older people and their families.
“They do not see mobility difficulties in everyday life as a form of disability. So they do not consider seeking help from disability organisations.”
Lin Hao said many older Chinese people do not even know where to buy a walking stick. They can only go to two-dollar shops, where the plastic tips on the sticks have no non-slip grip, causing falls in wet weather. Such accidents are entirely preventable.
Alongside buying or applying for suitable assistive equipment from the Independent Living service centre, some people are beginning to recognise hazards in their living environments.
East Auckland could become a pilot area. Lin Hao will assess accident risks in some older people's homes, determine how many people in the area need services to improve their living environments, and use those findings to apply for government funding.
Is the bathroom safe? Is the floor slippery? Are non-slip mats needed along the path from the house to the garden? Are there obstacles between the house and the letterbox? Can a powered wheelchair get from home to the bus stop?
These are all questions Lin Hao needs to consider for older Chinese people to reduce the risk of accidents. He is the first Chinese assessor to provide accessibility assessments for the council, architects and commercial built environments.
Caring for older people also means raising families' awareness
In its annual report on older people's living circumstances, Age Concern Auckland Asian (Chinese) Service also identified “strengthening education and raising awareness among the public, professionals and family members” as an important way to improve older people's wellbeing.
Lin Hao believes the Chinese community urgently needs an information platform focused on disabled people in New Zealand. While attending the 2018 disability sector conference as a Chinese community representative, he proposed establishing a WeChat official account for New Zealand's disability organisations to the sector leaders present.
With this official account acting as a bridge, New Zealand's disability organisations could promptly share useful information, service guides, policy information, and displays and sales of disability products with the public in Chinese. Essentially all the organisations at the disability sector conference verbally agreed to the idea and expressed their support.
Through this channel, Lin Hao hopes to change how Chinese people understand disability, helping them find the right organisations when needed and obtain services and support that can improve their quality of life.
“New Zealand's definition of disability is relatively broad and quite different from how we in the Chinese community understand it. More precisely, New Zealand's definition includes difficulties in daily life caused by injuries lasting more than 6 months, as well as difficulties in daily life caused by ageing.”
Lin Hao further explained that in New Zealand, a 65-year-old whose mobility is limited by ageing falls under hospital care. However, the services and products they want should come from organisations within New Zealand's disability sector.
In his experience, many older Chinese people face difficulties getting around in daily life and, because of language barriers, have no idea where to find information about help. An information-sharing platform could be established on WeChat, which is widely used by Chinese people.
Lin Hao hopes to get useful information promptly to people with limited mobility, helping them live more independently and become more self-reliant. He also urges family members to use this channel to learn more and help improve the quality of life of older relatives.