Director's Veteran Message October 24, 2025

These independent reviews help us make sure our care meets the highest national standards for safety, quality, and service. They also give us valuable insight into how we can keep improving the Veteran experience. We are proud of the dedication our staff have shown throughout the visit, and we remain focused on delivering the best care possible to every Veteran we serve.

Community Outreach

We were also honored to host the PACT Act Community Call and Veteran Town Hall on October 22 at The Arc of Hilo. This event gave us the chance to connect directly with Veterans on the Big Island, share information, offer health screenings, and flu shots; and—most importantly—listen to your voices. 

Mahalo to everyone who attended, asked questions, and shared your feedback. Your input helps us understand what’s working well and where we can do better, ensuring that our programs reflect what truly matters to you and your families.

 We will continue our Community Call outreach events and Veteran-focused Town Hall Meetings, visiting each of our outpatient clinics in Guam, Saipan, American Samoa, and the outer Hawaiian Islands. 

Improving Access to Care

All of us here at VAPIHCS are committed to increasing the availability of care, while also reducing wait times for appointments. We can do this by offering more scheduling options and expanding access to telehealth services. Our aim is to refine our referral processes to connect veterans with a wider array of care options, including more community care services. This ensures faster, high-quality care tailored to your needs, which is especially important for our community here in the Pacific Islands.

VA is also implementing clear performance metrics to enhance the patient experience and ensure strong accountability from leadership at all VA medical facilities.

At VAPIHCS, we are dedicated to putting you first and are proud to serve our nation's heroes who are at the center of everything we do.

Thoughts from Chaplain Richie Charles

When a goldsmith discovers a piece of gold, it is understandably an occasion of great joy. But gold, in its raw, unrefined state often lacks the radiant appearance we are accustomed to seeing. Unearthed gold can appear rough, dull, and encrusted with rock and impurities. To the untrained eye, it might not even look valuable.

To bring out its brilliance and luster, the goldsmith does the unthinkable – he throws it in the fire. But far from trying to destroy it, his purpose is to reclaim it. In a crucible, at temperatures around 2,000° F, the impurities separate from the molten gold and rises to the top. The goldsmith then carefully skims off the impurities until all that remains is pure, shining gold.

In much the same way, the challenges of life can refine us. Difficulties have a way of stripping away the layers that conceal our highest potential and keep us from shining. Adversity, though unpleasant, can often reveal hidden areas in need of change. It’s in the furnace of adversity that fear can transform into courage, doubt gives way to boldness, and we emerge more resilient, patient, and persevering. Difficulties often teach us lessons we would otherwise never learn.

One of my young relatives spoke at length about her substitute teacher, and let’s just say that this teacher isn’t the most popular with her class. Her venting reminded me of what it felt like to be a kid again, having teachers that I could not choose. But then it hit me: just like her, I don’t always get to choose my “teachers” in life either. While I may want to learn from “predictability” and a “smooth path”, sometimes, the teachers that show up are “challenges” and “adversity”. 

Ironically, difficult experiences often turn out to be our most effective instructors. Our deepest transformations often happen in the furnace of adversity, because our challenges are meant to refine us—not to define us.

I’m reminded of an old anecdote that speaks of a person named Amy Carmichael. She visited a traditional goldsmith’s workshop. Curious, she asked how he knew when the gold no longer needed to be kept within the fire. The goldsmith replied, “when I can see my face in it.”

In the same way, we can know our trials and difficulties have done their work when we reflect more clearly who we were always meant to be.

One Team, One Ohana!

Thandiwe Nelson-Brooks, MPH, FACHE 

Interim Medical Center Director

VA Pacific Islands Health Care System