Alzheimer’s Australia SA breaks down cultural barriers with launch of ‘Cultura’ via The Distillery

Alzheimer’s Australia SA has launched a new digital platform and film created by Adelaide digital agency The Distillery, which aims to help break down the cultural barriers between health care workers and people living with dementia.

With a growing and culturally diverse population, Australia currently has over 413,000 people living with dementia. Affecting thinking, behaviour and the ability to perform everyday tasks, it is often hard for these people to communicate exactly what they need and how they are feeling.

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Says Katheryn Quintel, CEO, Alzheimer’s Australia SA: “This requires health care workers to adopt a much more personal style of care; understanding the diverse and rich cultural nuances that make up a person to provide that deeper level of care.

“People with dementia who are born in another country can revert back to speaking their original language and often their personality changes accordingly too. With Australia being such a melting pot of cultures we required an innovative way to educate and inspire health care workers. A year long, nation-wide consultation with health care workers helped us decide the content; a vast database of resources and cultural information. Users are able to learn about specific cultural needs and make case specific notes so they can provide a more person-centric level of caring.

“It’s not just about caring for people from different cultural backgrounds either. With a rich diversity of health care workers in Australia it’s important to provide them with the tools to be able to relate to all cultures. It can be easy to offend or upset somebody if you’re not careful! Using the compare feature allows health care workers to see how cultural nuances are drastically different and communicate with people accordingly.”

Says Tom Moon, account director, The Distillery: “We made sure Cultura was developed across all screen sizes and types (Android, iPhone, iPad and a responsive web) so that health care workers have every opportunity to either spend time researching in depth or quickly pull out their mobile to access information quickly.”

The launch of the platform at Adelaide Convention Centre last week attracted nearly 500 people and was met with extremely positive responses from carers and health care workers.

A launch film was created by The Distillery to highlight the issue and launch the app.

Says Oliver Prenton, creative director, The Distillery: “It takes just seven seconds to judge someone the first time you meet them. We thought it’d be nice to test this theory and hopefully open a few eyes in the process.”

The app is available for download on both Apple and Android app stores.

Creative Agency & App Development: The Distillery, Adelaide

Sound Recordist: Nick Steele