Veterans Affairs committee  Which type of veteran do you mean? Are you talking about senior veterans, newly released veterans, or veterans like my husband?

Veterans Affairs committee  He's back today and leaves in a week. I get him home after three months. This is good.

Veterans Affairs committee  I have an excellent example of this happening two months ago. I typically don't share, if I don't need to, that I'm a military spouse. I can talk their lingo, first of all. I can tell what they've done, and it's amazing how you can build rapport because of that. I walked into a gentleman's home.

Veterans Affairs committee  I get a referral for the veteran. It's impossible for me not to look at the other stuff that's happening; it's impossible. I don't know whether that's just me, or is OT training in me, or what it is, but I definitely do. I know I can't treat the spouse, but I definitely take them into consideration when I'm there.

Veterans Affairs committee  Absolutely. I realize, though, in saying this, that you're going to have to put more money into it, I guess, because you're going to have to spend longer hours. If you were to say “Helen, you get to treat not only the veteran but the family”, I'd be putting in much longer hours.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you.

Veterans Affairs committee  Do you want to know the difference?

Veterans Affairs committee  Occupational therapists can look at and bridge the psychological and physical limitations of a person. They do quite a bit. Physiotherapists and occupational therapists overlap slightly. They can overlap quite a bit on the physical component. But what we're able to bring to the table is the concept of taking in—it's a fluffy word—the holistic view of a person, including the family.

Veterans Affairs committee  Absolutely. There are hand therapy specialists. I'm currently taking stuff in hand therapy, so that's a specialty area. Not anyone can just walk into it. Really, there's anything. I'm certified in pain management, psychosocial, which is actually, interestingly enough, a pilot project being done in the Canadian Forces now—I don't know if you're aware of it—with a goal attainment program.

Veterans Affairs committee  Right. I see what you're saying. So if you had the occupational therapist who's embedded and enlisted in the military and the veteran leaves, and now they're being offered an occupational therapist who is a generalist, say, in a rural town, you're wondering what the difference will be.

Veterans Affairs committee  You don't want to give me that. I think there are places in the military for them, if they find that meaningful. We can't just provide them with some desk job that they're not going to be happy with.

Veterans Affairs committee  Occupational therapists have the ability to assess the functional ability of a person. You can be certified in functional capacity evaluation, which looks at different components, psychological and physical, of people who are injured psychologically or physically. Once you break that down, you can find out what their capacity is, whether that be physically lifting and moving or whether that be how much of an attention span they have to read a book or be on the computer.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's interesting. I had not thought of something like that, but that is definitely something I would look into to find out more about it.

Veterans Affairs committee  That wouldn't be my area. I know the area counsellors are good advocates for that type of thing, but that is a huge barrier I see with my veterans. They will ask me on a number of occasions to help them fill out their forms. They cannot see. I cannot call them on the phone. When I call them, they do not understand what I'm saying.

Veterans Affairs committee  I see what you're saying. So you would be able to talk someone through a routine assessment?