To answer your first question, the research I did was commissioned by the Fraser Health Authority. To their credit, they have been looking into the issue of age-friendly physical design of hospitals for some time, and they came to the gerontology centre at the university. I did a review of the literature for them, because they wanted to know if they were missing something, and then designed the study to answer some of the gaps that were identified.
So yes, we certainly are consulted by groups or agencies like the Fraser Health Authority, which deal with a sizable population. We try to transfer the knowledge so the information is available to other people and other jurisdictions.