Director's message november 3, 2023 | va pacific islands health care | veterans affairs

VAPIHCS Veterans, For Veterans who have not been in to see Primary Care in a long time, we would love to have you come back and see one of our Primary Care Providers to receive the safe,

compassionate and quality care that VA Pacific Islands Health Care System (VAPIHCS) has to offer you. If transportation is a problem, our Veteran Transportation Service is happy to schedule

a ride to get you to and from your appointments at VA Pacific Islands. Please ask your scheduler about this program. We would also like to invite you to attend our next PACT Act event, where

we will be conducting our first ever Koa Challenge Event, which will feature Veteran Rehabilitative games at the West Oahu Vet Center, 5001 Iroquois Ave, Ewa Beach, HI 96706 on November

7-9, 2023, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. This Koa Challenge event will be an opportunity to meet other Veterans, talk with VA staff and see what these games are all about. We will have VA staff

available to help Veterans register and enroll for VA health care, and scheduling staff available to you to assist in completing PACT Act registration. We will also provide vaccines and

health screenings. In addition, we will have information regarding a wide range of programs and services available to you through VAPIHCS, as well as representatives from Veterans Benefits

Administration and the local Vet Center. We are honored to assist you with your health care needs and look forward to hearing from you soon. For more information, call 1 800-214-1306. Our

call center agents will be happy to assist you. WHOLE HEALTH FOR ALL VA recognizes that health care has not always been equally distributed, and some people have experienced greater

obstacles to health care. Underserved groups include racial, gender, LBGTQ+ minorities, and others. VA Whole Health is seeking to balance the scales for Veterans by offering true

person-centered care, where health care teams partner with the whole person to help them live their best lives. Whole Health is part of a shift toward more equitable distribution of care for

Veterans of all backgrounds. Dr. Benjamin Kligler, Executive Director of the Office of Patient Centered Care & Cultural Transformation, shared how VA is leading the nation in

person-centered care. “VA is, again, pushing the envelope of what a health care system can do…helping address racism, helping address economic inequality, because VA takes care of the whole

person over the course of their whole lifetime,” he said. Learn more about how Whole Health at VAPIHCS will put you in the center of your VA health care by visiting www.va.gov/wholehealth.

WE’RE HIRING In the spring of 2024, we will be opening the Daniel K. Akaka VA Clinic in Kapolei. We are also expanding or remodeling clinics on other Hawaiian Islands, as well as in Guam and

American Samoa, and growing services at VAPIHCS. This means hiring many new employees! If you are interested in working with us, or if you know someone who is, please look at our job

listings and see if there is something that would be right for you. We’d love to have you join our ohana! THOUGHTS FROM CHAPLAIN RICHIE CHARLES I’m thankful for my callouses! Well, let me

explain. A number of years ago I decided to take up the challenge of learning to play the guitar. In practicing to play different chords, I came across an unexpected problem: pain. Sure, the

first few minutes of playing felt just fine, but after about 15 minutes of prolonged practice, my fingertips were left feeling sore. Thankfully, I developed little callouses on my

fingertips that sort of became natural padding against the friction caused by pressing against those strings. And now, I’m able to play for an extended period of time, and make melodies that

previously would have been too painful to create. The pain didn’t make the songs any easier to play, neither did the pain cause the guitar strings to get any softer. But the pain did

produce a change in me, enabling me to become more resilient. Similarly, along the path of life, we might experience painful moments that we did not expect. In our quest to become more adept

in our roles and skillful in our areas of responsibility, we might encounter various setbacks and obstacles that may surprise us and leave us disheartened. But as discouraging as these

obstacles might feel in the moment, if you can endure, you might likely find that those very obstacles can help you form the very resilience and stamina to weather greater challenges ahead.

There’s an old saying that says that “if the mountain was smooth, then you wouldn’t be able to climb it”. The jagged edges of the mountain gives the climber a surface for his grip, and forms

solid footing for her steps. The very rocky edges that appear to be a nuisance, are actually nature’s steps in disguise. And the jagged edges of our life experiences can often fortify us

with the strength and resolve to surmount greater obstacles ahead and to climb higher. 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/– submit your email to get our updates Facebook:

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