Director's Message April 11, 2025

! I recently spoke with a Veteran who provided feedback about a service that he was having difficulty accessing. He also shared that there were several other Veterans experiencing the same issue. While it can be hard to hear that you’re falling short, feedback helps an organization improve and we welcome your feedback on how we can better serve you. Constructive feedback highlights the great things that we are doing and should continue doing, as well as identifies areas where we can, and should, do better. We appreciate all that you share with us because we are committed to providing you with the exceptional health care services and benefits you’ve rightfully earned.

Akaka One Year Anniversary

This week we celebrated the anniversary of the opening of the VA Pacific Islands Health Care System (VAPIHCS) Daniel K. Akaka VA Clinic in Kapolei. The Akaka Clinic saw its first patients on April 8, 2024, and over the last year, the clinic has become a hub for Veterans, representing not only a place to receive medical services, but also a place for Veterans to learn about their benefits and to connect with one another. There is a monthly food distribution event and information fair on the second Friday of each month. to outreach and resources fairs and our monthly food distribution event, there is always something going on for Veterans at the Akaka VA Clinic.

The clinic, named in honor of Senator Daniel Kahikina Akaka, the first US Senator of Hawaiian descent, is an embodiment of our commitment to our Veterans. We recognize that access to quality health care is more than just a service—it is a responsibility and a promise that we will continue to uphold. At the event, I was able to meet Army Veteran Alvin Akana and his son Air Force Veteran Elroy Akana. They were our first patients when they clinic opened, and one year later they came to help us celebrate. Alvin Akana said that he felt the clinic is the fulfillment of VA’s promise to provide the best care possible for Veterans, and I could not have put it better myself. We are working hard to continue to fulfill our promises and serving all who served.

Occupational Therapy Month

April is Occupational Therapy (OT) Month. This makes it a good time to appreciate the work of our VAPIHCS OT staff. Occupational therapists focus on enabling people to do what they want and need to do in their everyday lives. It is a science-driven and evidence-based approach profession that enables people to discover methods and coping strategies that can help them live with disabilities, injuries, and diseases. Occupational therapists take the whole Veteran into account, discovering what matters most to them and how to help them with achieving their goals, functioning at the highest level possible, maintaining or rebuilding independence, and participating in activities they need to do as well as recreational activities that help enrich their lives.

This month, the VAPIHCS occupational therapy staff will hold events each Wednesday from 12pm to 1pm in the Spark Matsunaga Ambulatory Care Center (ACC) lobby to help inform and educate about occupational therapy. They will also have a Gerofit meeting in the Daniel K. Akaka VA Clinic lobby on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. These events are open to anyone. Veterans can always talk with their doctor about occupational therapy, recreation therapy, and other options to help them keep or regain mobility, independence, and a lifestyle that they can enjoy. VAPIHCS staff is here to help Veterans live their best lives.

Thoughts from Chaplain Richie Charles

In 1799, a young boy named Conrad Reed found a shiny yellow rock while fishing on a Sunday in Little Meadow Creek in North Carolina. Curious, but unaware what it was, he brought it home. His father, John Reed, decided to keep it, but thought this unusual 17-pound rock-like substance could be used as a good doorstop, and so it laid on the floor of his home for three years. Eventually, Conrad’s father took it to a jeweler—asking only $3.50 for it, which was one-tenth of one percent of its true value. It turns out that the 17-pound yellow rock that Conrad Reed found would be considered the first authenticated finding of gold in the United States. After his mistake of selling at such a low price, John Reed founded the Reed Gold Mine, in pursuit of more treasures of gold.

Perhaps you’ve never mistakenly used a gold nugget as a doorstop, but we all can perhaps relate to the human tendency of overlooking the value of what’s within our grasp in preference for something that is “out there”. Ironically, some only discern the value of what they have, when they no longer have it. Just like a car’s side mirror, sometimes one’s blind spots lay in what’s closest to us.

Overlooking what’s close, in preference for what’s “out there” can lead us to downplay our strengths, underestimate our impact, and fail to see the value and potential of our present opportunities– all because they’ve become too familiar.

But when that golden nugget fell into the hands of a trained jeweler, someone who recognized its worth, everything changed.

What if you took a moment today to view your present reality through different eyes? What if the very thing you’ve considered a “doorstop” was actually treasure waiting to be maximized?

Someone once said, “it’s not about having what you want, but wanting what you’ve got.”

John Reed and the golden nugget demonstrates that sometimes, the key is not always getting something else—but rather realizing the value of what you already have.

One Team, One Ohana!
Thandiwe (Tandi) Nelson-Brooks, MPH, FACHE
Interim Medical Center Director
VA Pacific Islands Health Care System

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