In-Home Filipino Caregivers for Canada's Seniors

Demand for Filipino Caregivers in Canada

The Asian population in Canada is rapidly aging, creating a greater need for loyal, compassionate, energetic, competent caregivers who can work with all cultures. Filipinos are the third largest Asian Canadian group after Indians and Chinese. Filipino immigrant caregivers have been a popular choice for many years for elderly looking for private home care assistance. Many Filipino caregivers have worked as trained foreign caregivers all over the world and are fluent in Filipino language and English, and relative fluency speaking another Asian language. As Canada's elderly population expands, so will the continued demand for versatile Filipino in-home caregivers willing to provide a wide range of in-home culture-sensitive services to bridge home care gaps across Canada.

The ideal Filipino caregiver may have worked all over the world as a caregiver and has built a reputation based on their deep respect for the elderly, close family ties, flexibility and creativity, hard work, pakikisama (getting along with others) and working proficiency in English and the required spoken language. Filipino caregiver services can range from simple grocery shopping or errands to more complicated services like personal support and personal care, assistance with medication administration, companionship and in-home help.

Cultural Competence of Filipino Home Care Workers

Since the 1970s, there has been a large and steady stream of Filipino immigrant caregivers coming to Canada as foreign trained caregivers to provide in-home care to Canada’s elderly. This is largely credited to the adaptability of Filipino caregivers and their willingness to go above and beyond. Filipino caregivers have had experience with multiple cultures gained from their migration history, enabling them to build trust and strong, emotional connections with elderly clients and their families.

Filipinos are very similar in appearance to Indonesians because they share the same Austronesian ancestry and have similar cultures. In contrast, Indonesian caregivers are known for being versatile and highly skilled and trained in providing basic personal care such as assisting with eating, dressing, bathing, grooming, etc. Many Indonesian caregivers are also fluent in multiple languages allowing them to converse easily with clients whose primary language is not English. The combination of empathy, cultural understanding and versatility and ability to build strong relationships is what makes both Filipino and Indonesian caregivers invaluable as providers of in-home elderly care in Canada.

Language Skills of Filipino Speaking Caregivers

Filipino caregivers in Canada that come from the Philippines may speak one of 8 major dialects - Bikol, Cebuano, Hiligaynon (Ilonggo), throughout the Philippines which makes them versatile care providers able to provide world-wide culture-sensitive care to English speaking populations and especially the elderly. Filipinos traditionally care for their own family elderly and so it is not often Filipino caregivers in Canada that come from the Philippines may speak one of 8 major dialects - Bikol, Cebuano, Hiligaynon (Ilonggo), Ilocano, Kapampangan, Pangasinan, Tagalog, and Waray. Tagalog and English are taught throughout the Philippines. The official language of Indonesia is Indonesian, locally known as Bahasa Indonesia, a standardized form of Malay. Some regions of Indonesia—such as Sumatra—use indigenous languages like Batak-Toba which are still spoken amongst Indonesian-Canadians today.

Cultural Perspectives of Filipino in Canada

Canada's earliest documented Filipinos coincided with North America's first wave of Asian immigration in the 1800s. Larger numbers of Filipinos migrated to Canada in the 1930 and there have been subsequent waves since from the U.S. or directly from the Philippines coming as contract workers initially then later bringing their wives and families. The first-generation Filipino Canadians were mainly women who worked as nurses and teachers and in the health sector. Today, Filipino people live in rapidly growing, thriving communities in every province of Canada. This rapid growth is associated with Canada’s Caregiver Program established to facilitate family reunification for caregivers with relatives in Canada, as well as increase the number of caregivers available for Canada’s aging population. In Canada, most Filipinos today are educated third generation Filipinos that continue the culture and traditions of their parents regarding age and respect of elders. Young people are still expected to show respect to the elderly as well as to other family elders and use titles of respect when addressing elders. When a Filipino child meets an older family member, the youth customarily greet them with a gesture called mano po, taking the older relative's hand and placing it on his or her own forehead

Other Desirable Skills for Filipino Speaking Caregivers

As Filipino caregivers work with many Asian clients, Filipino caregivers must be aware of the traditions, norms and customs of multiple cultures beyond the Filipino community. A Filipino caregiver must appreciate that providing culture-sensitive care considers the use of nonverbal behavior such as gestures, facial expressions, and other subtle cues to avoid confusion, frustration, and breakdowns in communication. Filipino caregivers need to be adaptable and have especially good interpersonal skills to enable them to collaborate effectively with family members who are not of Asian descent.

Filipino Friendly Care Plan Considerations

Heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, stroke related dementia, diabetes, and cancer are common among elderly Filipinos. Lifestyle factors and diet play an important part in risk reduction. Although Filipinos typically eat a lot of rice, fruits and vegetables they are often found to have nutritional deficiencies in vitamin A, iron and iodine.

Care plans for Filipino clients should specify a client or family’s preferred language or dialect, any caregiver gender expectations regarding personal care needs, and suggestions on how best to show respect and reverence to their client. Care plans for English speaking non-Asian clients will be designed collaboratively with families as cultural expectations will be different. In general, care plans should be designed to inform the Filipino caregivers of the scope of assistance they must provide with respect to personal support and care, housekeeping, medications and medical therapies to address health issues or nutritional deficiencies, escort responsibilities pertaining to medical appointments, food preferences and restrictions, celebrations and family gatherings, and outings. Traditional cultural foods such as soups like sinigang or tinola are typically enjoyed as well as snacks such as bibingka, cassava cake, and banana cake but care must be taken to avoid use of excessive salt and sugar. Providing emotional support and companionship is very important for elderly Filipinos population should be Filipino population – stories about their home country and family can help boost moods and alleviate loneliness. When caring for elderly with cognition challenges and memory loss, care plans should indicate strategies to reduce safety and security hazards, especially with respect to medication security and creating a barrier fee personal space.

Finding Employment as a Filipino Home Care Provider

Asian Caregivers is a values-focused company that was established with a mission to connect a caring community of Asian language caregivers with clients seeking at home care for themselves or loved ones. Asian Caregivers envisions its online platform www.asiancaregivers.ca will become the virtual meeting place of choice where sincere, reliable, trustworthy culture-sensitive caregivers can promote themselves and provide the best care to the elderly who have embraced the choice to live at home.

Asian Caregivers understands how important it is to pair Filipino in-home workers with compatible clients. To find a job as a Filipino home care worker, personal support worker, or housekeeper join the Asian Caregivers online community and register. Please visit the Asian Caregivers platform and register for free now! https://www.asiancaregivers.ca/register_caregivers?caregivers/1