Director's Message December 13, 2024

To ensure your privacy when electronically interfacing with us, we will switch to two-factor authentication in the New Year on the MyHealtheVet app, our web portal, and all other electronic forms of communication. The two services you will be able to use are ID.me and Login.gov. You will have access to all the same services that you have today, but this added layer of security can give you confidence in the safety of your information when you use VA online services. Veterans can learn more here.

New Services for Lana’i Veterans

VAPIHCS services to Lana’i Veterans will now include primary care appointments on the second Tuesday of each month and mental health appointments on the first Thursday of each month. Appointments will be at Straub Medical Center, located at Lana’i Clinic, 628-B 7th Street, Lana’i City. To make an appointment, call 808-871-2454, option 2 then option 5.  For more information, please call the Lana’i social worker, Julie Patry at 808-268-8002.

Apply Now for the Nurse Residency Program

VAPIHCS is committed to education, and to helping train the medical personnel of the future. Currently, we are accepting applications for our Post Baccalaureate Registered Nurse Residency Program. Come train with us and learn about the rewarding and meaningful work of caring for those who have worn the cloth of our nation. Applications will be accepted until February 28, 2025. To learn more, contact Nurse Residency Program Director Elizabeth Yarbrough at V21HONnurseresidency@va.gov.

Upcoming Events

There will be a Chaplains and Tea from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Monday, December 16, 2024, at the Spark Matsunaga Ambulatory Care Center (ACC) in Honolulu. VAPIHCS Chaplains welcome Veterans and staff with light refreshments and spiritual care materials. If you have questions, please call Chaplain Services at 808-433-0270. 

There will be a PACT Act Community Call at the Multi-Purpose Civic Center, Beach Road, Suspe, Saipan 96950 on the following days: 

              • 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. (ChST) on Wednesday, January 8, 2024
              • 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (ChST) on Thursday, January 9, 2024
              • 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (ChST) on Friday, January 10, 2024

This event is for all Veterans. Join us to enroll, learn about new expansions to VA coverage like the PACT Act and COPACT Act, get health services, or have your benefits questions answered. Contact Outreach Coordinator Maurice Martin: Maurice.Martin@va.gov or Public Affairs Officer Amy Rohlfs: Gloria.Rohlfs@va.gov if you have any questions. 

Thoughts from Chaplain Richie Charles

To paraphrase an old quote “Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but who can count the number of apples in a seed?”

This thought-provoking statement highlights the reality that while it’s pretty much straightforward to determine how many seeds are within a single apple, it’s virtually impossible to calculate the number of apples that can emerge from a single seed.

The average apple typically contains somewhere between 5 to 10 seeds, but a single seed can grow into an apple tree which can yield up to 200-800 individual apples – and that’s just in one year. Now, imagine if we were to plant the seeds of those 800 apples. Even if just a fraction of them sprouted, the number of trees and apples would multiply exponentially. It's truly amazing how this one fact of nature holds profound lessons of how vast, limitless potential can be hidden in what, on the surface, appears mundane and ordinary. A single seed can indeed hold the possibility of an entire orchard, providing fruit for generations to come.

But the laws that govern the plant kingdom also mirrors our own reality. Our words have a profound power likened unto a seed. One study found that we speak approximately 16,000 words per day. That’s 16,000 daily opportunities to impact those around us. But like seeds, our words will bear fruit according to its kind. Just as an apple seed can only bear apples, and a lemon seed will not produce cucumbers, our words can have a ripple effect according to their nature. Our words are like seeds planted in the lives of those we come in contact with, which can uplift and encourage, or discourage and chill even someone’s noblest aspirations.

Let’s determine to steward this amazing gift of speech for the best results, planting the right seeds to foster the best in others.

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

Stay Informed

Website: https://www.va.gov/pacific-islands-health-care/ 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VAPacificIslands/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/va_pacific_islands/
Podcast: https://vapihcspao.podbean.com/