General practitioners report that in this city they see elderly people with a migration background only when problems pile up. They then have to arrange acute care and are unable to give real attention to all problems at hand.
Trailblazing
A GP asks me to help build a network in the city that can develop an approach to get these elderly people into the picture at an earlier stage. Together we build a network with the major care and welfare organizations in the city and the municipality. We experiment with new approaches and doing so, develop a workable approach. We organize an annual symposium to share our findings. The organisations sign a agreement in which they promise each other to make a joint effort to improve the support.
Result
The welfare organisation organises successful meetings in the neighbourhoods for this group. Present there is an employee of the healthcare organisation who can help find suitable support. The healthcare organisation has a group of bicultural employees who are given the opportunity to visit families and thus build trust. They can arrange suitable support with a ‘warm’ transfer.
Elderly people with a migration background are more likely to be noticed by healthcare and welfare organisations. All parties involved work on the cultural sensitivity of their organisation.
.