Galtier Health Center is a nursing home in Minnesota, a state with the second largest Hmong population in the United States, behind only California (Pfeifer et al. 2013). The Hmong population comprises people who originated from or have ancestors in mountain villages in Vietnam, Laos, China, Burma, and Thailand. Galtier, located in St. Paul, has provided long-term care services to the Hmong community since 1992, and it has developed several effective approaches to culturally competent long-term care.

First, Galtier partners with Hmong groups, leaders, businesses, organizations, and other interested parties in the community. In this way, Galtier is able to educate the community about skilled nursing and explain the benefits that a Hmong family can realize by sending their older persons to Galtier's facility. This outreach is critical, especially because in the Hmong language the term nursing home is nonexistent.

Second, Galtier actively recruits staff from the Hmong community. The facility has many native Hmong speakers on staff, enabling effective communication with patients and their families about their healthcare needs and preferences. In this way, the care is both culturally and medically competent. For example, if an older man develops an illness, the Galtier staff will not just administer the required medications to alleviate pain and discomfort; the staff will also approach the illness holistically, because the Hmong believe that ailments have both physical and spiritual aspects. A healer may be called in, and this person will work with the staff and the physician to develop treatments and therapies that combine Hmong traditions with Western medicine.

Third, Galtier works with its Hmong partners through its Southeast Asian Committee, which includes both community members and Galtier's staff and leadership. It also has a Hmong Resident Council. The committee and the council give Hmong residents a strong voice in the organization, and they help Galtier understand residents' concerns, make changes according to suggestions, and incorporate cultural practices and preferences into daily operations and care delivery.

Galtier's close association with the Hmong community ensures that the nursing home remains respectful of the Hmong people and their traditions, achieves active participation from Hmong residents and the larger community, and improves the Hmong elders' quality of life.

Name several internal and external conditions needed for a long-term care organization to replicate Galtier's culturally competent approach.

Discuss three key strategies used to ensure a culturally competent long-term care environment. Identify two ways that you could evaluate a nursing home's cultural competence and sensitivity.

Explain how Galtier integrates Hmong residents' cultural preferences in its daily operations and long-term care delivery.