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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The founder of a Philadelphia-based health care company is going the extra mile to hire caregivers from diverse cultural backgrounds who can communicate with clients in their native languages.
There’s nothing quite like a home-cooked meal, and caregiver Uknary Rennie recently cooked up something special for her 84-year-old client, Phun Ing — a traditional Cambodian seafood soup with shrimp, vegetables and rice.
“It’s so nice to be able to work with someone that you really care about,” Rennie said.
Rennie not only cooks culturally familiar food for her client but speaks the same language, Khmer.
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Rennie is one of 360 bilingual caregivers who work for Century Home Care, where the mission is to help senior citizens find caregivers who meet their cultural needs.
“I feel good because I’m helping the community,” the company’s director of operations Bon Heng said.
Heng, a Cambodian immigrant, founded the company in South Philly five years ago after struggling to find the right caregiver for his aging father.
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“They didn’t know the ethnicity and the type of food that we eat. So that was what inspired me to create Century Home Care,” Heng said.
His father actually became his first client.
Heng’s company now serves more than 300 senior citizens from the Cambodian, Burmese, Laotian, Vietnamese and Chinese communities.
“I think 95% of our clients cannot read English,” Heng said. “And the caregiver, they’re fortunate that they’re able to learn some English and help them navigate just day-to-day life.”
Research shows culturally competent care can lead to better health outcomes.
According to a study by New York University, patients whose caregivers spoke the same language were less likely to be readmitted after hospitalization.
“If you get to live to 100, you’ll be lucky. So you know, century, one hundred. We’re hoping that everyone lives past 100,” Heng said.
That includes Ing, who said through a family interpreter that she’s grateful for the strong bond with her caregiver and the connection to home.