Bilingual home care from Sunshine

A PROGRAM aimed at helping bilingual job seekers which also helps fill a gap in the aged care market has made a successful move to Sunshine.

Spectrum Migrant Resource Centre’s Multicultural Home Support Service has been running at the centre’s new Harvester Rd office since late last year and has already trained 42 people to provide in-home care for ageing migrants in the west.

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Salvatore Fresta is one of the success stories of the program, using his knowledge of Italian, Spanish and Greek to assist others.

“I always like to help people, especially people that don’t speak English,” Mr Fresta said.

The 46-year-old was a pharmacist in Italy, but his qualifications were not recognised when he moved to Australia.

He enrolled in the program after his job in customer service disappeared when the company he was working for shut down.

Spectrum general manager of education, employment and training Maria Langwell said the multicultural home support service helped give people a “second chance” to enter the workforce and an opportunity to use their language skills.

Ms Langwell said there was “much demand” across Brimbank and the western corridor for carers who know languages other than English.

“Through this program we’re hoping to meet this demand.”

Spectrum is also celebrating the success of its SkillFill program, which has helped 45 skilled migrants find jobs and learn about the culture of the Australian workforce and industry practice.

Ms Langwell said there was a lack of government support for skilled migrants when they first arrived in the country.