Director's Message January 3, 2025

We honor President Carter’s legacy of service and join the nation in reflecting on his contributions to our country.

VAPIHCS Accomplishments

As another year begins, I look back with immense pride at how much we accomplished in 2024. Our new Kona Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) location opened, offering more services in a larger space for our Veterans. Our new Daniel K. Akaka VA Clinic opened in April 2024, and represents a significant increase in services and access to care for Veterans in the Pacific. Our Guam CBOC annex moved closer to completion, and our American Samoa Clinic remodel was completed. We also opened a new Center for Pacific Islander Veterans Health (CPIVH), which will lead the way in research into health conditions and factors that affect Pacific Island Veterans health care. We registered over 800 new Veterans for health care eligibility via the PACT Act, provided more than 2,000 health services at outreach events, and engaged with Veterans and their families over 67 days of events in 2024. We held the first annual Toa Challenge Veteran Games in American Samoa, and the second annual Koa Challenge Veteran Games in Oahu. We expanded access and added services across the Hawaiian Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, Guam, and American Samoa. This year, the Department of Veterans Affairs was also authorized through legislation to provide care for Veterans in the Compact of Free Association (COFA) nations, and logistics are being developed for delivering that care.

This year wasn’t all smooth sailing - from typhoons and hurricanes to power and water outages, we were given obstacles to overcome. However, the amazing staff here at VAPIHCS came through every challenge stronger. I know we’ll do even better in 2025.

Wishing you all a safe, prosperous, and Happy New Year!

American Samoa Expansion of Services

VAPIHCS is excited to announce the expansion of our mental health clinic, and the addition of specialty care and laboratory services at the American Samoa Faleomavaega Eni Fa’aua’a Hunkin Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) at the Fiatele Teo Army Reserve Building, Pago Pago, AS 96799. VAPIHCS is working diligently to expand services for Veterans across the Pacific Islands, and this expansion project will help deliver more care directly to Veterans in American Samoa, reducing the need for travel to Oahu and the mainland United States.

Blast Exposure and Veteran Health

VA is launching a new outreach campaign to encourage all eligible Veterans to enroll in VA health care – including approximately 11,910 unenrolled Hawaii Veterans who served in Vietnam, the Gulf War, Iraq, and Afghanistan. VA is launching this campaign after reports of concerns from Veterans about health issues – including mental health challenges and thoughts of suicide – potentially related to repeated blasts and head trauma (low-level artillery blasts, IEDs, missile launches, heavy fire, and more). Since the first reporting of these concerns, VA researchers have been urgently studying this matter to learn more about the potential health impacts of blast exposure on Veterans.

While we continue to urgently conduct research into the impacts of blast exposure, VA encourages these Veterans – and all eligible Veterans – to apply for VA care today. Veterans who use VA health care have better health outcomes than non-enrolled Veterans, VA hospitals are dramatically outperforming non-VA hospitals, and VA health care is often more affordable than non-VA health care for Veterans. Additionally, 92% of Veteran patients currently report trusting VA outpatient health care – an all-time high. Please encourage Veterans you interact with to enroll in VA care today. It is our honor to serve all who served.

Thoughts from Chaplain Richie Charles

Here we are, at the start of 2025—welcoming a brand-new year. As we pause to reflect, we are reminded of just how much can transpire in just a single year.  The transition to a new year holds a significance beyond merely marking the passage of time. It represents a threshold, where one chapter closes, and another begins. While the thought of a new year may evoke feelings of excitement, curiosity, or even apprehension, entering the new year thoughtfully begins with reflecting on the one we’re leaving behind.

The start of the year holds unique power to provoke deep introspection, inviting us to ask meaningful questions such as:

•            Did I dedicate enough time to what truly mattered the most to me?

•            Did I invest in the relationships that were the most important, or did I let distractions take priority?

•            Did I grow closer to, or further from, the person I am aspiring to be?

In a world that constantly bombards us with its own demands, such clarifying questions cut through the noise. They help us rediscover our core values, discern what truly matters, and rekindle a resolve to live in alignment with our deepest priorities. To drift away from one’s priorities, one does not necessarily have to reject what matters most, just continually neglect what matters most.

Reflection provides a gift of emotional clarity. It allows us to process unresolved feelings, release regrets, and bring closure to the experiences of the year. This process of looking back with intention prepares us to move forward with a renewed mindset.

As we step into 2025, let us resolve to live with greater intention and focus. Let us steward our time in light of what truly matters most. The turning of the year is not just another day—it is another opportunity to realign, refocus, and recommit to living with purpose.

Happy New Year!

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/