Thank you for this very interesting presentation. I was making notes throughout it. I was actually pleased to hear you mention Bosnia and Rwanda, because the same sorts of situations happened there as are happening today.
Also, you touched on it a bit, but the firemen in our country and the police face the same kinds of horrors that you're describing--burned children, and things that you don't think you're ever going to have to come face to face with. This is a very difficult situation for all concerned.
We have five operational stress institutions in Canada: Ste. Anne's Hospital in Montreal, la Maison Paul-Triquet in Quebec City, Parkwood in London, Deer Lodge in Winnipeg, and Carewest in Calgary. I'd like to ask you later on if you think that's enough or if you think there need to be more, but there are some other things I wanted to get into on this question.
I don't know how you would deal with someone who is used to looking at a child as a child and now suddenly they're in a situation where a child is actually strapped with explosives and prepared to blow themselves up, and the same with women. That's what's happening to many of our soldiers. Those are completely different scenarios from what they're ever used to. That must be very difficult.
One of the other things I wanted to mention is that aside from the psychological damage, if you find yourself in a situation all the time where the adrenalin is pumping through your body, you can deplete the adrenal glands, and that has a negative effect on the way you're dealing with things emotionally as well. When you've depleted that and you have nothing to rely on anymore, because you've used this “flight or fight” syndrome so often, it has to take its toll as well.
Those are just comments I wanted to make, and Doctors Without Borders sounds wonderful. I happen to have a sister-in-law who's part of a group, Nurses Without Borders. She's been in all the parts of the world that you've just talked about--a much braver woman than I am, I must tell you.
But how do you think Veterans Affairs Canada can contribute to changing the negative stereotype for veterans who suffer in silence from PTSD? We can't help them if they don't come forward. How do you think Veterans Affairs Canada could contribute to making that less of a stigma?