Director's Message December 2, 2022
VAPIHCS Veterans, As you know, prescriptions are shipped by plane to locations throughout VA Pacific Islands Health Care System (VAPIHCS). Air service to the Big Island is not restricted at this time. However, it may be disrupted in the near future by recent activity from the Mauna Loa volcano.
Please place your prescription orders now, so they can be shipped immediately. It’s particularly important that you place orders for inhalers and other breathing aids that you may need. Call 1-800-214-1306 to speak with someone from Pharmacy today about medications that we can fill for you.
Ke’ehi Lagoon PACT Act Event
The PACT Act is a historic new law that will help VA deliver care and benefits to millions of veterans, and survivors, affected by burn pits and other toxic exposures. VAPIHCS will hold a PACT Act enrollment event at Ke’ehi Lagoon Memorial Park on December 17, 2022. The event will be from 7:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at 2685 N. Nimitz Highway in Honolulu. This event is not just for people who are already enrolled with the Veterans Administration. Many veterans who were not previously eligible for care will be eligible now under the PACT Act if they have any service history of toxic exposure. Anyone who would like to speak with a representative about possible eligibility should come to the event.
In addition to PACT Act enrollment, other services will be available. Vaccines, blood pressure checks, health screenings, and diabetic foot checks will all be offered. Additionally, people who have questions can come speak to a benefits advisor. For more information, please call 1-800-214-1306.
American Samoa Community Call PACT Act Event
A Community Call event was held this week in American Samoa from November 29, 2022, to December 1, 2022. This event allowed VAPIHCS to help newly eligible veterans enroll for care. In addition to PACT Act enrollment, other services were available. Vaccines, blood pressure checks, health screenings, and diabetic foot checks were offered for veterans. The event was a success, with over 300 hundred veterans served over the 3-day period, including 294 vaccines given and 152 new registrations under the PACT Act. Mahalo to everyone who made this event possible. We want to bring VA services to everyone in VAPIHCS, no matter where they are. I am glad that VAPIHCS has been able to send teams to do Community Calls and outreach, and we will continue to do all we can to get the services needed to the people who need it, no matter where they are.
Phone Number Changed
The Department of Veterans Affairs established 1-800-MyVA411 (1-800-698-2411) in 2020 to help veterans, their family members, caregivers, and survivors understand and access the broad spectrum of VA benefits and services.
VA’s previous information number, 1-844-MyVA311, was retired at that time in 2020. Since that transition, MyVA311 has been repurposed by a non-federal entity claiming to be a medical equipment provider. Veterans may try to call VA using the MyVA311 number and unintentionally divulge personal information.
Veterans are advised to update their phones, because 1-800-MyVA411 is the appropriate number to call for information about COVID-19 updates, health care eligibility and enrollment, VA benefits, the nearest VA center, as well as debt and payment options. Remember that you can always contact our Call Center at 1-800-214-1306 and let the helpful folks there refer you to the right department, so that you don’t have to keep track of a lot of different phone numbers.
Suicide Prevention - Reach Out
VA recently released the 2022 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, which showed that veteran suicides decreased in 2020 for the second year in a row, and that fewer veterans died by suicide in 2020 than in any year since 2006. I’m proud that we’re moving in the right direction, but even one veteran suicide is too many. Suicide is preventable, and each of us has a role to play in suicide prevention.
Quick, easy access to services in times of crisis, which provide hope and connection to resources, can and is proven to save veterans’ lives. Most importantly, we want to let veterans know that we are here for them. Whether a veteran wants to speak to another veteran, talk to a therapist, call our crisis line at 988 (then press 1), text us at 838255, visit one of our Vet centers, or access any of VA’s mental health services online at VA.gov/reach, we are standing by and ready to help.
It’s not just about having services available; it’s also about families and friends. If someone you served with has been out of touch, reach out and check on them. Encourage your fellow Veterans to enroll with VA and to take advantage of any services they might need. There’s no shame in getting help, so please, let’s end the stigma of getting mental health care and convince each other to #ReachOut.
Thoughts From Chaplain Richie Charles
Walt Disney died in 1966, five years before Walt Disney World opened in Florida. But it has been said that at the grand opening, someone turned to Walt’s wife, Lillian, and said, “It’s a shame Walt didn’t get to see this.” She replied, “Oh, he did see it, and that’s why it’s here.”
While eyesight enables one to see what’s before us, “vision” is the very opposite. It refers to the capacity to see what does not yet exist. A vision, therefore, has powerful benefits.
A vision inspires a sense of disciplined consistency. Athletes are admired not merely for winning the title, but also for the enormous amount of discipline that enabled them to triumph. At times, an athlete’s training regimen may not feel pleasant in the moment, but an athlete is willing to sacrifice the pleasure of ease today, to fulfill a higher purpose tomorrow. Any lofty goal requires consistent effort in a particular direction. But without a vision, there’s little incentive to remain disciplined in doing what’s difficult in the moment.
A vision also enables one to discern the difference between “right” and “right”. Sometimes, the hardest conundrums that one may have to encounter are not differentiating between what is good and what is bad but knowing the difference between what is “right” and what is “right”. That is, a vision enables one to discern the difference between two seemingly good options. On the path to accomplishing one’s goal, there will be many other good options that will be vying for one’s time and attention. But a person with a vision understands that not everything that is permissible is beneficial. A vision enables one to discern when good things have become distractions from the overall goal.
Let’s decide to harness the power that comes with sticking to a positive vision.
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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