Veterans Affairs committee  I understand what you're suggesting. I wouldn't recommend that because I don't think that's exactly how it works. You can end up working in a variety of different areas, so you're not going to have a whole lot of people who are, at the get-go, declaring a career in veteran-specific psychology, for example.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think the folks around the table have raised really important issues, and I'm very reassured to see the depth of concern and the depth of understanding of both gerontology and veterans issues. You don't always encounter that when you're talking to a group. So I feel that we're in good hands to see what will come of the committee's work, and I appreciate the opportunity to have participated in that.

Veterans Affairs committee  It isn't so much about the adequate facilities, it's whether there are geriatric courses on the curricula of universities. I would say that in psychology departments we aren't doing well enough in that area at the moment to be prepared to serve the changing demographic, the increasing number of elderly people.

Veterans Affairs committee  The large veterans care facilities across the country, like Parkwood, and there are 12 or 14 of them, are extremely well equipped. They have all sorts of activity options. Parkwood, for example, has a woodworking studio, a clay studio, a textile studio, bowling alley, pub, and a putting green.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think in the gerontological literature we're starting to see more appreciation of the issue of gender and more realization that as men and women age—what it's all about is aging successfully, happily, actively, whatever it happens to be—they have had different life courses, different activities and interests, and they've gotten to different outcomes in their lives.

Veterans Affairs committee  No. In Parkwood Hospital, where I work, the priority access beds are 98% for veterans simply because they are coming from an era of the Second World War and the Korean War when men were much more likely to be involved. That will also change when geriatric services are needed for current cohorts of veterans.

Veterans Affairs committee  Let me remind the committee for my own purposes that I am here representing the National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly. I happen, as a member of that, to work at Parkwood Hospital, which is part of St. Joseph's Health Care London, a large hospital with a lot of different kinds of services, but it does include 300-plus beds with priority access for veterans, and I have been working there for 15 years.

Veterans Affairs committee  I do. I think that loneliness is a huge problem for older adults, and I think it's one that's not easily solved, because in part it's a result of circumstances. If you think of the statistics, 2,000 veterans are passing on per month--I think that was the statistic that came out of the Gerontological Advisory Council's report.

Veterans Affairs committee  I can offer some experience. I don't know that I have the answer to what the government should do, but one of the things that's really dramatic that's happening with younger populations is the reliance on the Internet. Not our elderly population so much, but younger populations go to the Internet to get information.

Veterans Affairs committee  I don't follow you.

Veterans Affairs committee  A lot of the research would say that when people answer that question--how's your health?--they actually are using their own age group as a reference. When you ask someone who is 85, how are you doing?, they don't look at you as the 28-year-old interviewer and say, well, not very good compared to you.

Veterans Affairs committee  It could be.

Veterans Affairs committee  It's a clearly recognized problem, and actually this does come back nicely to NICE, the organization I'm here representing, because one of their three objectives addresses that issue head-on. One of their objectives is to improve training of existing practitioners, improve geriatric curricula in universities, and interest students in specializing in geriatric care.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think with respect to the second question, it's really more a matter of being able to target veteran populations with programs that are.... It's a contained population, so you can target veterans populations with ideal programs, with model programs that are focused on different issues.

Veterans Affairs committee  It may not have been.