First of all, all the people we spoke to at the Department of Veterans Affairs were extremely understanding and kind. We have no complaints in that regard.
The person to whom you are referring would change everything completely. This could be someone we could call directly. We could leave the person a voice mail message, something that is very difficult to do at the moment. The person could get a copy of all the information regarding my husband—the psychiatric reports, documents from Ste. Anne's, all the applications and forms. The person would be responsible for distributing these documents and would ensure that all the services are coordinated. However, there is nothing of the sort at the moment.
At the moment, you have to contact an individual about pension applications and other related services that could be helpful to my husband. I think the fact that there is not an individual of the type you describe slows down the process to a dangerous extent. I say “dangerous”, but it is not a question of money, of paying mortgages or going on a trip. That is not what it is about. What my husband and I would like is for him to get the treatment he needs and to have the peace of mind he requires.
I would also like to mention that my husband does not intend to retire before age 65. He wants to rejoin the labour force. He can do that. He wants to do that, but he wants some balance to be available to him. At the moment, the shortage of services means that the entire treatment is necessarily called into question.
So it has to be possible for people to contact a particular individual. I can tell you that it is extremely stressful when we try to speak to the person in charge of our file. When we telephone the call centre in New Brunswick or wherever it is located, someone asks why we are calling. We say that it is for follow-up on our file. We're told that a message will be left and that we will be called back.
Just last week, a mistake was actually made. The message was given to the wrong individual. As a result, the message was left on November 21, and our call was only returned yesterday. If these people are on vacation, we're not aware of it. No one can answer our questions. We are really left to our own devices to follow up on our case, to ensure that they have all the documents they require. The proof is that we were waiting for the psychiatric report from Ste. Anne's, and yesterday, my husband simply called Ste. Anne's, and they faxed him the report. Tell me why the people at Veterans Affairs Canada cannot proceed more quickly, when we could get an answer within 12 hours?
So there needs to be someone coordinating all of the information, and that person needs to be aware of the client's situation and able to facilitate access to emergency services, as my husband requires at the moment. There are certainly ways of making the waiting time more bearable until the files have been processed, first in Charlottetown and then in Sherbrooke.