Vietnamese Family Caregiver Support
Orange Caregiver Resource Center
Fullerton, CA
Orange County, California is home to the largest population of Vietnamese residents in the U.S. They are aging while retaining traditional customs and language. Orange Caregiver Resource Center has served this community since 1997 providing the first culturally and language competent Vietnamese family caregiver resources to caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders and other chronic illnesses in California. Family caregiving is already challenging; cultural and linguistic factors create added barriers to service access. The Vietnamese Family Caregiver Support Group is offered monthly and accompanied by a variety of supportive services including assessment and care planning, information and referral, counseling, and educational workshops. Workshops that include guiding caregivers through understanding and completing advance health care directives for themselves and loved ones; a ground breaking intervention within this community. Caregivers report increased knowledge and awareness of community resources and that they feel more competent as caregivers and better able to take care of their own health through participation in the programs.