Top VA official makes Hawaii visit to underscore commitment to vets, facilities upgrades

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A prime official with the U.S. Division of Veterans Affairs is on Oahu as a part of a regional tour to grasp the challenges of offering healthcare to veterans right here.

Modernizing previous amenities is among the major priorities for VA Deputy Secretary Donald Remy and ensuring veterans throughout the Pacific don’t have to go away the VA system to get high quality care.

“You possibly can’t present the twenty first century veteran the world class well being care they deserve in twentieth century amenities,” Remy stated.

That’s why the brand new Daniel Kahikina Akaka VA Clinic is being billed a gamechanger.

It’s beneath development and slated to open in 2024.

The newly signed PACT Act additionally contains funding for brand spanking new VA amenities, however Remy couldn’t say precisely the place they might be constructed.

“We did market assessments throughout the nation beforehand and examined the place we would have liked amenities the place we would have liked to beef up our infrastructure,” each bodily and human, he stated.

Remy says the VA has dramatically decreased the backlog of advantages claims and is working to lower wait occasions for sufferers. The VA can also be working to recruit and retain extra healthcare staff, he stated.

“They’ve the clinicians that know them the most effective as a result of lots of our clinicians are in reality veterans themselves,” he stated.

Remy is visiting VA websites throughout Hawaii and Guam ― the primary for a prime VA official in 4 years.

He needs to see extra vets get VA care.

Nationally, he stated solely about half of American veterans use their advantages ― much less while you depend vets outdoors of the USA.

Within the Pacific, geography is a problem in serving greater than 100,000 vets, together with many in distant areas. Transportation and telemedicine will help.

“We discovered that we will attain veterans the place they’re we will present them the care that they want, even when they aren’t coming into our amenities and so we will incorporate that into the care we offer into the longer term,” Remy stated.

Different priorities: Assist vets affected by sexual violence and psychological sickness.

“Army sexual trauma, we acknowledge is an terrible element of some and their veteran expertise, their navy expertise, their lively obligation expertise,” Remy stated.

“Now we have sources accessible for anybody, male or feminine, that’s the survivor of navy sexual trauma incident or is in a home violence state of affairs and we would like these people to succeed in out and get psychological well being counseling from VA, they’ll use our vet facilities as properly, which are accessible to those that are on lively obligation or might have obtained aside from honorable discharges.”

By addressing psychological well being, the VA hopes to cut back veteran suicides.

Remy says the common suicide price for veterans has been falling. At the moment, greater than 17 vets die by suicide every day, down from the 22-per-day statistic reported in 2012.

Apart from counseling and the nationwide disaster line 9-8-8, the VA is doing analysis on different medicines like marijuana as an choice for veterans with publish traumatic stress dysfunction.

For extra info on VA advantages, click on right here.

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