I would agree with Mark. I think that the IS program should potentially work in collaboration with the CCACs so that there is not a duplication of services to older people, in general. I think there are opportunities there to learn from the work that the community care access centres in Ontario have developed. Again, it is a single point of entry. And their single point of entry is based on the functional needs of the client, not based on the status of the person. So the veteran's status wouldn't come into play.
I think as well—and I can only speak on behalf of the health care pathway—that the older adults need to become aware of various health promotion initiatives to prevent various areas of decline, in the area of functional decline, because sometimes people don't think about accessing services until something has happened, until they've fallen, they've fractured something, and now they need rehabilitation.
But the question is, after rehabilitation, what happens? What's in place for the residents--the veterans? I do a lot of work with long-term care facilities, and that's why I said “residents” there. What's in place for the residents to help them maintain their functional gains post-rehabilitation? What health promotion programs could potentially be in place? And then also, following rehabilitation, what follow-through programs are in place to help them maintain their functional gains post-rehabilitation? It's critical to think about, because most of the funds are invested in rehabilitation after a fall has happened, etc., to help the person regain as much of their functional potential as possible. But then what are we doing to help these people maintain these functional gains long term? I'm suggesting that efforts, programming, need to be put in place at those two ends more so than in the middle because programs in the middle are better understood because they're directed by the hospital care system, whereas these two at the outer end are community based, and oftentimes the veterans are not aware of what those programming services are for them. In many cases, they're not in place.