Health committee  Yes, that's my gut feeling. Many people are there because of lifestyle issues. If they had the opportunity to change those lifestyle issues earlier in life, they wouldn't be where they are today. But that is not an easy thing to do. It's looking at behaviour change.

Health committee  That's a really good question. I've been asking that, and I've been with ALCOA for four years. What we do is we take the research of the day, we create resources for older adults, and we disseminate them through our membership. Our role really is to inform and educate and hopef

Health committee  From our capacity, with what we have, yes, it is. We predominantly create resources. We do get a lot of good feedback from individuals and older adults--i.e., I like this, I would like more, I want to share it with my friends--but we haven't any solid evidence to say what chang

Health committee  On that, the social determinants of health are really important when we're looking at national policies, be it provincial or federal policies. Just looking at barriers for individuals is not sufficient. There are eight or ten different factors in the determinants of health that

Health committee  You were talking about 20% of something, and I wasn't sure—20% of...?

Health committee  We do some work with aboriginal groups as part of our coalition. We know there is a much higher percentage of diabetes in aboriginal groups, both on reserve and off reserve, than in older adults in Canada. We know that it links back to their lifestyle. There certainly are genetic

Health committee  I think mental health has to be addressed, and I can see that it's becoming more of an issue. At the preparation for the UN summit, I was sitting in a meeting and they were saying that we have to look at mental health. I don't think it's in isolation. All the issues of chronic di

Health committee  I can certainly speak somewhat to that, not to the in-depth research, but the document we have there is something that is quite new in the industry. The simple relationship is that what's good for your body is good for your brain. That happens because the neuroplasticity in you

Health committee  Certainly the idea of being able to live in your home as long as possible is what we do push: to remain as independent as long as possible and to have the choice to determine where you want to live and not be forced to live somewhere. The opportunity of being able to stay at home

Health committee  Oh, I'm sorry; I didn't see you.

Health committee  Okay. What I would like to say is I think it would be very helpful if doctors were better informed, to have a system where they could refer so they're not looking at treatment all the time but prevention.

Health committee  That's not a problem. We must look at the determinants of health, and I think there is no question that the research and evidence unequivocally confirms the urgency to address the disease prevention and management of older adults. And certainly ALCOA has a reach through our memb

Health committee  Thank you very much. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today on what we think is certainly a very important concern for older adults. I'm here today speaking on behalf of the Active Living Coalition for Older Adults, also known as ALCOA. We have nothing to do with t