I'd be happy to speak to that, Madam Chairman. Thank you.
On the individual side, the Deep River program is a great example of where often the paramedics are called the oldest child. As you say, they've moved away. They've stepped in as the lightkeeper, if you will, in the community. They're doing home visits. They're holding their hand when they need their hand held. We're putting in home monitoring devices and connecting people to the appropriate services.
As the EMS Chiefs of Canada we've been working with this government to have the paramedics included in the loan debt forgiveness program so that we can increase the number of advanced care paramedics in rural communities in Canada. Advanced care paramedics on the emergency side can intubate you, can put a pacemaker on you, and so on, but on the primary health care side, they can also come into your home and rehydrate you with an IV. They can provide you with antibiotic care so that you're not being shuffled back and forth a couple of times a day should you have sepsis or a significant infection.
We'd like to increase our presence and the services we're providing in the community, and we'd like this federal government to assist us in doing that. But I think as well we provide an opportunity through chronic disease self-management, working with the individual and the family so that they have the appropriate answers when it comes time to care for their loved one, because ultimately that's what we all want to do in terms of taking care of our parents.