Stanley called us at CanAge. Our phone numbers are available and our email is available.
We have people reaching out to all kinds of services, and 211 is a good service. It's being rolled out across the country now, but it works better in some places than in others. It is another type of resource that can be helpful, but people need to be trained on it because it is for information and referral.
I'll use an example that comes from Ontario. When calls about elder abuse and neglect hit 211, it was flooded, but 211 doesn't have training on this. People were then handed over to the senior safety line. To give you a sense of this, the senior safety line was getting 800 calls every three days during COVID-19, with an 85% drop rate. That means only 15% of the calls were getting through. This was 24 hours a day. Therefore, 211 is a way in, but calls have to go to someone specialized.
We think that 211 and other supports are important points, but a national response line for seniors' inquires, which could be staffed by Service Canada or the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, or could be an analogous line with expert resources to help, would be a really useful tool.