On whether families are better informed today, we're hoping they are, and I think they are to some degree. When we did the needs analysis in OSISS in 2004, one of the big findings was that families really needed a lot of information. They felt they had very little information and understanding about what an operational stress injury was. They just knew that their husband or wife went off on a deployment and came back a different person. They didn't know it was an operational stress injury or what it was, but it was something that made their husband or wife different.
So they identified to us very loud and clear that they needed a better understanding and more information. We've been working on that, and implementing the family peer support coordination position has helped that considerably.
On urban areas versus rural areas, with the OSISS program the support is provided one on one, face to face, if that's doable. Often that's not doable when families or others are living in remote areas, so a lot of their work is done on the telephone. We try to reach out and use that mode. We also use Telehealth. Some of our peer support coordinators have been involved with Telehealth. Cyndi Muise is one of those.
There will soon be 10 Veterans Affairs operational stress injury clinics across the country, and they provide family services. Our peer support coordinators work with families, in collaboration with the health professionals at the clinics. It's another way of trying to work together in a team effort, because we know there are not enough resources out there to meet the demand. It's improving, but there's still a great demand for services and programs for those suffering. We use whatever manner we can with others to reach out to them.