Director's Message November 22, 2023

This year, as I look over the construction updates for our new sites of care and our expanded sites of care, I am sincerely grateful that we have been given the opportunity to bring new and better things to our Veterans. Federal funding isn’t always forthcoming for projects of great importance, and it’s meaningful that we stepped up to prioritize Veterans in so many ways.

I’m excited for the opening of the Daniel K. Akaka Clinic in Kapolei, as well as the new Kona Community-Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC). Both should open in the spring of 2024. We are also remodeling and expanding sites of care in Guam, American Samoa, and Hilo.

Although the buildings and facilities which we use to care for our Veterans are essential, the VA Pacific Islands Health Care System (VAPIHCS) is not, in essence, physical structures. It is the collective effort and resolve of the men and women who are actually the center of our commitment to our Veterans. Their energy, innovation, creativity, and love for each other and our Veterans is what ohana is about. With that commitment, which is reflected daily by the men and women of VAPIHCS who embrace our ICARE ethos and resolve to meet our Veterans wherever they may be and in whatever conditions they may find themselves, we ensure that we always give honor, respect, and unconditional service to the men and women who have sacrificed selflessly for their country.

Many of you have already applied for benefits through the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act, which is a historic new law that will help VA deliver care and expand eligibility for millions of Veterans, and their spouses or survivors, by empowering us to presumptively provide care and benefits to Veterans suffering from more than 20 toxic exposure-related conditions. It will also introduce and bring generations of people who have served into the VA health care system, where we are privileged to take care of them.

I am grateful for the service our Veterans have selflessly given to our country.

And I’m grateful for the VAPIHCS staff that serve our Veterans every day. I have spent my life in public service – first, in the Navy, and then working to improve health care for Veterans. It’s rewarding, and an honor to serve. And I am thankful that I’ve been provided with so many opportunities to serve in meaningful ways.

Wishing you all a happy, restful, and blessed holiday. Happy Thanksgiving from our VA Pacific Islands Health Care System ohana to yours.

Guam Health Care Annex

As many Veterans know, we have a CBOC in Guam to serve our Veterans. I am pleased to announce the lease award for an additional space to accommodate the increased demand as VAPIHCS continues to grow. The new space, which will be called our Guam CBOC Annex, is a 5,000-square-foot building that will be adjacent to the Guam Regional Medical Center at 133 Route 3, Dededo, GU 96929. This enhancement will allow VAPIHCS to significantly expand access to the care offered to Veterans in Guam. The Guam CBOC Annex will feature primary care services, prosthetics, lab, and in-person mental health services. If you are not enrolled with us yet or if you know someone who is not enrolled, now is a good time to give us a call: 1-800-214-1306.

Thoughts from Chaplain Richie Charles

When everything is going well, it can be much easier to maintain a thankful attitude, but can we still maintain a sense of gratitude when we experience the “winters” of our life experience? While we don’t mean to be unrealistic, and celebrate difficulties themselves, I find that even in the midst of challenges, there’s still always something we can be grateful for, regardless of what season I may find myself in. One thing I have noticed which never seems to fail, is that whenever I slow down to count my blessings; that is whenever I take inventory of all the positives that I can be grateful for, my list always gets much longer than I initially anticipated. Every time I thoughtfully took time to give thanks for what is going well, I always seem to find even more things to be grateful for. The reason is simple: I am constantly surrounded with countless reasons for why I should give thanks -but unless I take time to notice- I can easily run the risk of only focusing on what isn’t going well, rather than what is.

There’s a story of a person who, in her dreams, saw someone walking through a garden filled with beautiful flowers and roses. And when she stopped to delight over one of the roses, she noticed that beneath the rose were sharp thorns. In anguish, she began to bemoan and weep over the thorns, until she heard the voice of what appeared to be the garden’s owner. The owner cautioned “leave the thorns alone, they will only wound you. Gather the roses, the lilies, and the pinks”. Although surrounded by a vast field of flowers, she momentarily lost sight of all of the garden’s beauty because of the little thorns beneath a single rose. In many ways, the thorny roses are a metaphor for life. If we look for the thorns of life, we will always find them. But if we look for the lilies and the pinks, they’re also always close at hand. Let’s not miss the beauty of the flowers for the thorns beneath the roses.

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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