I would just like to add to or go over a few ideas. My president spoke about New Brunswick. I would like to take the opportunity to speak about the Montfort Hospital, which serves veterans and National Defence. Once again, this is a bilingual institution which is able to provide services in both official languages.
Elsewhere in the country, another contribution should be underscored, that of the Société Santé en français. This association does outreach in minority language communities throughout Canada. It has proven its mettle in the past five years. I believe that currently, it is in the process of setting up health services in French throughout the country, in areas where this situation is precarious.
The absence of long-term residential care centres is truly a problem. It is an iceberg that is looming before us but that we have not yet hit. As the Ontario president of this association, I can assure you that elsewhere in the country, this is a problem that is going to become more serious and that will not be easy to resolve, because we're dealing with departments that deal with municipalities, housing in general and an entire range of support programs. So the problem is far from being resolved.
In addition, Mr. Lirette spoke about community accompaniment which, in minority language areas, is very important. Thanks to community accompaniment programs, we can often delay the institutionalization of people who are gradually losing their autonomy. The long-term care centres cost the health system a great of money. This being said however, it is still important to have these centres.
Finally, allow me to describe very briefly the health prevention days that we organize and for which we request funding so that we can organize others in all minority language areas. At the beginning of the day, we present the technical aspects of a given disease, for example, heart diseases or Alzheimer's. Then, there is always a nurse who takes people's blood pressure and blood samples. People are notified that this day will be taking place and we usually have some 100 to 250 people in attendance. This first part of the day is very technical. Then, we talk about nutrition. Later in the day, we invite either a policeman or a social services representative, to discuss abuse of seniors. Usually, the day ends with an entertainment type of presentation.
In closing, intergenerational programs are designed to reach out to isolated seniors. Francophones in minority language areas throughout the country have a pressing need for such programs.
I don't want to take any more time, thank you for your attention.