In the past 20 years, Sina Chohaili has welcomed more than 200 children into her home.
As a foster mum with Lebanese heritage, she's been a safety net for children, but she says looking after her own health hasn't been easy.
"I needed to have health insurance and I couldn't pay any more so I stopped it for a while. I love to be a carer but I need something to help me out to help me continue this work."
Nearly 30 per cent of women in New South Wales speak a language other than English at home and a quarter of the state's population were born overseas.
The New South Wales Health Communication Service's Michael Camit says many women have a similar experience to Sina.
"I think the issue is not just about money, I think it's how best we use resources and funding. And I think an event like this at a statewide level is a great opportunity for people to collaborate. So we're really looking at the old model was here's funding, you do a campaign or you do an initiative targeting women. Now it's like what kind of groups do we have that can work with us? So that's why we want to call out to women, migrant leaders to work with the health system."
Advocates say women can't nurture their health without knowing their basic rights.
Asian Women in Work is an network for migrant women and says governments should take firmer action against workplace exploitation, to protect women's physical and mental health.
Lina Cabaero Ponnambalam has heard some challenging stories while working with the organisation.
"Sometimes they have to go with no tea from 7 o clock in the morning until 1 oclock in the afternoon. In that workplace there are a lot women and a lot of those women have urinary tract infections. Because they try to hold on, you know, for the time when they can go to the toilet."
New South Wales Multiculturalism Minister, Raymond Williams, says language is identified as a key barrier to accessing care.
But he says he'd be surprised to learn of ongoing mistreatment of migrant workers.
"Ultimately you would think in this day and age in this country that the appropriate workplace practices were represented fairly and equally across the board. I'd be appalled if anyone was taking advantage of any culturally diverse communities in the workplace, I really would be, and I don't think we as a government would stand for that."
Experts say shifts in migration patterns have changed our requirements of the health care system.
More women than ever before are migrating to Australia alone - either as refugees or skilled workers, and this demographic has special requirements for health care.
For carers like Lina, the benefits of staying strong and healthy will be passed on to those who need her most.
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