Director's Veteran Message August 1, 2025
Staying Resilient This past week, we faced a tsunami warning that impacted all of our clinics across the Pacific Islands. We are deeply grateful that the warning was eventually downgraded to an advisory and that our communities were spared from serious damage.
I want to thank all of you—Veterans, caregivers, and staff—for staying alert and following emergency instructions, and tuning in to real-time updates from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), local authorities, and news sources. Your attention to safety made a real difference. Our teams acted quickly to reach out to Veterans who were in need of assistance, while also ensuring our staff and facilities remained prepared and protected. This event was a strong reminder of how connected we are as a health care system and how critical it is to be ready. Your calm and coordinated response helped ensure everyone’s well-being during a time of uncertainty, and I am proud of the resilience and teamwork I saw throughout our network.
World Lung Cancer Day
August 1st is World Lung Cancer Awareness Day, and it’s an important reminder to take care of our lung health. Lung cancer is one of the most common and serious cancers affecting Veterans, but when it’s caught early, it can often be treated more effectively. If you have a history of smoking or other risk factors, please speak with your VA health care provider about lung cancer screening—it could save your life. This is also an opportunity to recommit to quitting smoking, one of the leading causes of lung cancer, COPD, and other long-term health conditions. We know it’s not easy, but you don’t have to do it alone. VA offers smoking cessation programs, counseling, and medication options to support your journey toward better lung health. Whether you’re thinking about quitting for the first time or trying again, we are here to help you breathe easier and live healthier.
VA and DoD Leaders Unite
This week, the VA Pacific Islands Health Care System (VAPIHCS) and Tripler Army Medical Center (TAMC) held a crucial kickoff meeting in Honolulu to discuss resource sharing and future actions. With the involvement of our VA DoD Sharing Office and the Defense Health Agency (DHA), this meeting brought together VA and DoD leaders to work on removing barriers to strengthen our partnership and improve the transition from Active Duty to Veteran status. Our collaboration aims to ensure seamless and high-quality care for our Veterans and service members. This progress marks a vital step toward a more unified and efficient healthcare system, benefiting everyone involved.
American Samoa Community Call and Veteran’s Town Hall
We’re excited to announce that a Veterans Town Hall will take place in American Samoa on August 20, 2025, at the Government of American Samoa Veterans Memorial Building. From 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., VAPIHCS staff will be there to offer health care enrollment, assistance with new Veteran ID cards, and information about the PACT Act and other services. Then from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., join us for our evening Veteran Town Hall to hear updates about new services coming to the American Samoa CBOC and speak directly with members of our executive leadership team. We look forward to seeing you there.
Upcoming Construction
Starting August 11, 2025, a road construction project may affect your trip to the Tripler campus and Spark M. Matsunaga VA Medical Center. The Directorate of Public Works will begin replacing a sewer line on Jarrett White Road. Three out of four lanes will be closed Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The project is expected to be completed by February 2026. Due to potential traffic delays, please allow extra time for your travel when arriving for an appointment during these hours. If you anticipate being late, please call us at 1-800-214-1306.
Thoughts from Chaplain Jewel
As the story goes, A young boy was walking along a seashore after a huge storm. The storm’s raging waves had left countless starfish littered all along a beach. One by one, the young boy picked up the starfish and threw them back into the ocean. An elderly man approached the young boy and started laughing at him.
The man said to the boy, “why waste your time throwing these starfish back into the water? You’re just one kid but there must be millions of starfish here; you’ll never get them all back into the ocean!”
The boy replied “Yes, you’re right.” And as he held a starfish in his hand, he said, “But I can change the life of this one”. As the boy picked up and threw another starfish into the ocean, he commented, “And I could have changed the life of that one.”
The elderly man and young boy both knew they could not save all the starfish, but one of these individuals allowed himself to be motivated by that reality while the other allowed the reality to hinder him from making differences he otherwise could have made.
It’s been said that “You may be just one person to the world, but to one person, you may be the world.”
It’s often easy to feel as though our efforts won’t make a great difference unless we have some great opportunity. We might contemplate the vast amounts of Veterans that need our help, or the great number of tasks that call for our attention. We may think, “if only I can do something spectacular, then, and only then, can I make a real difference”. But imagine seeing the full spectrum of events that result from our daily actions. As a pebble cast into a pond causes ripples that extend far beyond its touchpoint, our services often have a wider impact than we may ever know or see.
Every day, life presents opportunities that can have far-reaching effects. So, rather than waiting for that grand, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change the world, may we not miss the everyday chance to change the world of someone who is right in front of us.
Napoleon Hill once said, “If you can’t do great things, then do small things in a great way”. Let’s not give up on making the differences that we can, because what may seem small to us is possibly quite great for someone else.
One Team, One Ohana!
Thandiwe Nelson-Brooks, MPH, FACHE
Interim Medical Center Director
VA Pacific Islands Health Care System
Stay Informed
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