Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm just here to give you a brief overview of our health care benefits program, more commonly known as the treatment program. Basically, our veterans who are receiving VIP and long-term care support do have access to our health care benefits or treatment program. It's designed to enhance the quality of life of VAC clients by providing them with health care benefits and services—which I'll speak to on the next slide—in order to respond to their assessed health needs. It's a critical component of our approach to a comprehensive suite of programs and supports, and it's key in ensuring that our veterans are well taken care of in long-term care and the VIP program as well.
There are 14 programs of choice, as you can see on the next slide. That's how we administer them. I won't speak to each and every one of them, but these are examples of the types of benefits available. For example, we provide aids to daily living, which can be canes and bathroom aids. We provide medical services, such as injections. Prescription drugs is also a program that supports veterans significantly. As well, we provide prosthetics and orthotics, which can include footwear and braces and artificial limbs, as needed. The last one on my list is vision care. We provide glasses so veterans can see better.
The last slide I'll speak to deals with how we link with some of the other programs that VAC has, in particular the new veterans charter. I know that you've heard from my colleagues on the new veterans charter and the programs available under it, which provide significant support, one of them being the disability awards. The other aspect of disability benefits is, of course, disability pensions. We also have a mental health framework, and I understand you'll be travelling to Charlottetown in the near future to hear from our colleagues on mental health. Also, the other program is case management.
We also work closely with the Federal Healthcare Partnership. It has a continuing care partnership working group through which we work with various departments. We work closely with provincial home care and long-term care programs in the community, as Carlos was explaining, and municipal and non-governmental programs. We also work very closely in the research area, whether it be with other departments, other countries, or on our own research with universities in the field, to ensure that we respond to veterans' needs.
That would be it from me.