I can probably speak to that.
I worked as a health director for 10 years, when I first went to KO. That was one of the biggest issues we experienced. There were a lot of issues around travel and being able to be heard, I guess, in the area of providing escorts, especially for the elderly and young children, and also for people who were suffering mental health issues, and those kinds of things. That's what we were hearing.
I know it's still ongoing. We are on the line between the north, Sioux Lookout, and Winnipeg. Many times, when I fly, I see patients who are there. There are young moms who are struggling with small children and the elderly who are struggling to get in and out of planes and stuff. There is no one there to help them or there are inadequate people to help them. The other thing is that, basically, the whole of vision care is uninsured. When you speak about vision care and the lack of services in the communities, that's always been an ongoing thing.
I know that transportation.... I know the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority. I'm a board member there too. We get a lot of complaints from people who are experiencing difficulties in the area of non-insured when they need to travel out for medical care, especially for care that's far from home.
In Thunder Bay, especially for people who have not had the experience of going out and being placed in...especially the hotels. There are hostels there. Even the hostels may sometimes have their issues, but being placed in hotels that are very foreign to them, a very foreign environment, and not having somebody there to provide support for them, has also been a major issue as well.