Listen, we’ve got a situation here, it’s about our older adults, they’re special, they need more support, especially when they’re battling cancer, okay? It’s tough out there, the system is complicated, it’s siloed, but we’re looking into it, we’re doing something tremendous. We took a good, hard look at the data in British Columbia, we’re talking about real numbers, real people, folks aged 70 and up, diagnosed with solid tumours in 2015. We’re not playing around.

We’ve got services like social work, psychiatry, palliative care, nutrition, home care – the works. But here’s the deal, out of 2014 patients, only 22.8% used these services from the cancer centre. Can you believe it? And the most used service, patient and family counselling, only 13%. We’ve got 15.3% using home care services, which is good, but not good enough.

Now, the older you get, the less likely you are to use these services. If you’re 80 plus, you’re not getting the support you need, and that’s just wrong. We’ve got to fix this. And if you’ve got advanced cancer, or you’re at a smaller centre, or dealing with colorectal, gynaecological, or lung cancer, you’re more likely to get a referral. That’s what we’re seeing.

So, what’s the bottom line? Our older adults, especially those over 80, they’re not getting enough support. We’ve got barriers, big barriers, and we need to smash them. We need to think big, think different, and deliver care that’s as holistic as it gets. We’re going to make it happen, because that’s what we do. We’re going to take care of our people.