Working to Improve the Lives of Hispanic Older Adults, their Families, and Caregivers

1. National Hispanic Council on Aging Volunteerism in the Hispanic Community August, 2010 Working to Improve the Lives of Hispanic Older Adults,  their Families, and Caregivers

2. In our Session Today… • NHSMP’s Update • Needs assessments • FL and DC • Volunteerism in the Hispanic/Latino community Working to Improve the Lives of Hispanic Older Adults,  their Families, and Caregivers

3. National Hispanic Community Challenges • NY NHSMP Goal: Create a Strong National Outreach & Education Campaign to prevent Medicare fraud among the Hispanic older adult community

4. Needs Assessment Findings District of Columbia Working to Improve the Lives of Hispanic Older Adults,  their Families, and Caregivers • The most common types of fraud or abuse were double billing for services already paid by Medicare or billing for services that were never performed. • Sending unsolicited medical equipment (i.e. diabetes shoes, eye glasses) • Most of the fraud cases are perpetrated through unsolicited house visits and/or calls by salespeople • There is a lack of information available on Medicare fraud in Spanish.

5. Needs Assessment Findings Florida Working to Improve the Lives of Hispanic Older Adults,  their Families, and Caregivers • The most common types of fraud or abuse were double billing for services already paid by Medicare or billing for services that were never performed. • Providing patients with extra services (manicure, pedicure) to keep them enrolled in a specific medical center. • Providing non-medical products (i.e. fans, pans, etc.) with the Medicare card • Giving bonuses to patients to keep them enrolled in a specific medical center • Most of the fraud cases are perpetrated through calls by salespeople • There is a dearth of information available on Medicare fraud in Spanish. Almost all Hispanic older adults who participated in the assessment said that they had not seen any information available on Medicare fraud in Spanish. They did not know of any organization where they can call to report fraud in Spanish.

6. Volunteerism In the Latino Community Working to Improve the Lives of Hispanic Older Adults,  their Families, and Caregivers

7. Latino/Hispanic Characteristics • Familismo (Familism): The concept reflects the importance of the family at all levels • Fatalismo (Fatalism): Control over what happened- and will happen-has an external locus

8. Latino/Hispanic Characteristics • Respeto(Respect): based on age, experience, or service • Personalismo(Personalism): relationship with the individual rather than with the institution • Plática: friendly conversation • ConfianzaMutua: mutual trust

9. Historic Roots Working to Improve the Lives of Hispanic Older Adults,  their Families, and Caregivers Come from systems where governments and churches are responsible for providing the majority of social services Culture-specific values such familismo and collectivism have a strong impact in shaping Hispanic models of volunteering Voluntary actions are far more personalized and informal and less institutionalized than those of mainstream

10. Volunteerism within the Latino Culture Working to Improve the Lives of Hispanic Older Adults,  their Families, and Caregivers Strong religious-cultural traditions have been a mainstay of Latino communities Faith-based networks have provided a variety of informal and formal mutual aid services for established and recent immigrant Latino families What is least understood by mainstream institutions, is the multiplicity of financial and economic survival activities that occur informally among Latino community members when specific family ‘crises’ arise Latino help networks display entrenched bicultural/bilingual traditions, enduring and deep trust relationships and mutual reciprocity behaviors

11. Working to Improve the Lives of Hispanic Older Adults,  their Families, and Caregivers

12. Engaging Latinos to Volunteer Working to Improve the Lives of Hispanic Older Adults,  their Families, and Caregivers It is a process of building community, relationships, and trust with Hispanic communities Hispanic Engagement and authentic engagement strategies that create advocates for people, neighborhoods and issues within communities

13. 6 Strategiesfor Hispanic Engagement Working to Improve the Lives of Hispanic Older Adults,  their Families, and Caregivers

14. Working to Improve the Lives of Hispanic Older Adults,  their Families, and Caregivers

15. Working to Improve the Lives of Hispanic Older Adults,  their Families, and Caregivers

16. Recruiting Latino Volunteers Working to Improve the Lives of Hispanic Older Adults,  their Families, and Caregivers • Introduce your organization’s mission and goals and how they apply and benefit volunteers’ families and the Latino community • Emphasize the idea that anybody can be a volunteer regardless of his or her gender, age, religion, race, or economic and educational level • Recruiting Latinos as volunteers needs to be done on a one-to-one basis

17. Retaining Latino Volunteers Working to Improve the Lives of Hispanic Older Adults,  their Families, and Caregivers As with strategies for recruitment, the support provided to volunteers must take into account their daily life experience and the influence of culture Create a welcoming environment Find time tovisit with volunteers Reinforcepersonal relationships continuously Offer food, even if it is only a beverage Create a multi-cultural office program environment Review program policies and practices to identify those that might discourage Latino participation

18. Retaining Latino Volunteers Working to Improve the Lives of Hispanic Older Adults,  their Families, and Caregivers Get Ready to Face Challenges Be prepared to provide child care as needed Be prepared to help with transportation Avoid out of pocket expenses Take into consideration work schedules when planning meetings for volunteers and scheduling volunteer hours Provide Skills Provide quality training that builds on the knowledge and experience of volunteers Consider a mentoringapproach to training Involve volunteers inplanning as well as carrying outplans

19. RetainingLatino Volunteers Working to Improve the Lives of Hispanic Older Adults,  their Families, and Caregivers • Invite them to work within a diverse work committee or group. Be sure that they have somebody they already trust in the group • Make reminder calls. This helps not only to remind them of their task or meeting but also to build a relationship • Recognition of their work must be designed within the cultural context • Involve the entire family • Build a relationship and establish trust with the Latino community • Thank them

21. ¡Muchas Gracias!NNati National Hispanic Council on Aging Maria Eugenia Hernandez-Lane Vice President Phone: 202-347-9733 Email: mlane@nhcoa.org Working to Improve the Lives of Hispanic Older Adults,  their Families, and Caregivers