‘Islands’ veterans to benefit from VA Pacific Islands improvements’

Changes can now be seen at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs VA Pacific Islands Health Care System, which has “come a long way” in its ongoing efforts to build a healthcare system that would better serve veterans on the islands.

Dr. James E. Hastings, VA Pacific Islands Health Care System director, said these improvements include making available more specialty care throughout the system by means of better technology.

“The most recent thing we did was we opened up telemedicine links into Saipan from Honolulu and between Saipan and Guam. We have improved that capability and what that does is that allows us to project out our specialty care systems out into the environment,” he said.

Hastings was on island along with other members of the VA Pacific Island Health Care System for the Saipan Veterans Town Hall Meet last Nov. 16.

Hastings, who described himself as a disabled American veteran, noted that the VA also has “significantly increased” its mental health support system in the Pacific.

Although the psychologist that provides services to CNMI veterans at the Saipan VA Outreach Clinic, Dr. Kendall E. Gladding, left in April, Hastings said they are expecting a new one to join the team “soon.”

Hastings added that they have two psychiatrists out of Guam who will be traveling back and forth to the CNMI: Dr. Ruby Manalastas and Dr. Joan Gill.

According to Hastings, building a healthcare system is “a continuous process” as the science of healthcare is moving in a direction he described as “very, very fast.”

“This job will never be finished because we keep making more discoveries in health and as we do that, we understand more about how we implement them and make them effective to take care of people. So the job will never be done. We will just keep working at it continuously,” he told Saipan Tribune.

But Hastings pointed out that the remoteness of the Pacific Islands is “absolutely a challenge” in this healthcare building initiative.

“You can’t build a healthcare system in isolation from Washington, D.C.,” he said. “You can’t do that. What we’re doing is I consider a very, very challenging initiative that we’re trying to do. It’s something that we all have to do together and so I need your input as I am trying to build our team and build this healthcare system out here.”

The challenge, Hastings said, is compounded by the fact that the Pacific Islands are on the other side of the International Date Line, causing “havoc” for the computer systems since these are not built to handle such problems.

“We’ve come a long way. We really have. Now, have we come as far as we want to go? No, we haven’t. But we’re building a healthcare system. That’s what we’re doing and we’ve come a long way here,” he added.