Director's Message December 3, 2021

The outpatient “CBOC” clinics are designed to give Veterans easier access to care through VA. In the past, care on Oahu was only accessible through the Spark Matsunaga Ambulatory Care Center, Leeward CBOC or community care providers. The Windward CBOC was added to expand access. In the future, VA clinics in each community will allow Veterans the option of receiving their VA care closer to where they live.

The new CBOC is located at 46-001 Kamehameha Hwy Ste. 301 in the Adventist Castle Professional Center, at the intersection of Lilipuna Road and Kamehameha. It houses primary care services, as well as mental health, women’s health, specialty care, home-based primary care, telehealth, laboratory, and audiology clinics. There are between 4,200 and 4,500 eligible Veterans on the Windward side of the island, and all Veterans are eligible to move their care over to the CBOC now that it’s open.  

The new Windward CBOC is just one part of an overall plan to expand VA care throughout VAPIHCS. VA will hold a groundbreaking ceremony on December 21, 2021 for the new Advanced Leeward Outpatient Healthcare Access (ALOHA) CBOC that will be built in Kapolei. This expansion of care is designed to better serve Veterans already enrolled with VA, but also to help keep up with the expected increase in enrolled Veterans in years to come.

COVID-19 UPDATE
The safety and care of Veterans and our workforce are VA’s top priorities. As of October, VAPIHCS has been offering Veterans, employees and SAVE LIVES Act recipients the Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine booster shots. Vaccines remain the best way of protecting Veterans, staff, and the Pacific against COVID-19.

As we get ready for the holidays, the expanded Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations regarding booster shots allow us to better protect those at higher risk, as well as our community at large. Our next vaccine event will be held at the Spark Matsunaga Ambulatory Care Center from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday December 18, 2021.

If you have been fully vaccinated with Moderna, Pfizer, or Johnson & Johnson vaccines, you are eligible to receive the COVID-19 booster dose of Moderna or Johnson & Johnson. You must meet the following criteria:

• You must have been fully vaccinated prior to June 18, 2021
• Veteran, spouses and caregivers are eligible to receive the booster

Please bring your COVID-19 Vaccination Card to the event.

While the initial series of vaccines remain highly effective in reducing the likelihood of infection and preventing severe illness, hospitalization, or death among those infected, the purpose of this booster shot is to “boost” antibody protection when it has decreased over time.

VA is also offering the booster to Veterans, their spouses, caregivers and CHAMPVA recipients under the authority of the SAVE LIVES Act, as supply and capacity permits. The SAVE LIVES Act authorizes VA to offer vaccine to Veterans not traditionally eligible for VHA care, and others including spouses and caregivers of Veterans.

Veterans who received a COVID-19 vaccine outside of VA will need to bring proof of vaccination with them to receive the booster.  Call for an appointment or information about walk-in hours.

CDC advises that it is safe for people to get both the COVID-19 vaccine and flu vaccine at the same time. Veterans receiving care at VA who wish to get a booster shot can get both shots together during the same visit.

Veterans will need to bring their vaccination cards.  Those who received a vaccine under authorization of the SAVE LIVES Act and are due for a booster shot may do so in VA if supply permits and should consult with their physician if they have questions about whether they should receive a booster. Contact 1-800-214-1306 dial 0.

Visit VAPIHCS website:  http://www.hawaii.va.gov for updates regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. For more information, please contact 1-800-214-1306.

One Team, One Ohana!

Adam M. Robinson, Jr., MD, MBA, CPE

Director, VA Pacific Islands Health Care System

VADM, MC, USN, (RET)

36th Surgeon General, USN  

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