That's a great question. We're pleased as officials to be able to talk about it, because the more we talk, the more people become aware—at every level.
In our experience, one has to tread carefully about being able to recognize the signs, because you can present signs that could be something else. Oftentimes people are looking for the physical signs—a scar or a bruise—and it may not always happen that way. In fact we have come to discover that emotional abuse is sometimes as destructive, if not more destructive, as physical abuse of the elderly population. They're so much more susceptible to abuse because of their physical limitations, especially when they get into their eighties.
We have to be mindful, which is why we work with public health professionals to recognize the signs earlier on, so they can have a conversation in a way that is very respectful and that develops a relationship of trust. A person can get very silent, very isolated. Suddenly a person who was quite sociable is not as sociable. Suddenly a person who was able to go out is not able to go out. Suddenly that person is being accompanied by a caregiver and the relationship might appear to be somewhat suspicious. There are analogies to be drawn between child abuse and elder abuse, because oftentimes the abuse is done by someone they know.
It's important for us in the Public Health Agency to work with our partners even within the federal family--there is Veterans Affairs, the RCMP.... The reach of the federal family into the lives of individuals directly—sometimes the role is not that direct, but in this case it is—is an opportunity to use our mechanisms to share information with the networks so they are aware; they don't just think, oh, that person is just old, or that person is just suffering from dementia, or it's natural to be subject to these kinds of signs. It's not. A person can be very, very productive into their much later years, and that needs to be fostered.
Quality of life needs to be fostered, even into a person's nineties. This is what the work has focused on.