‘Healthcare services for veterans on Rota and Tinian long overdue’

CNMI Office of Veterans Affairs executive officer Stanley T. Iakopo recently reached out to the Veterans Affairs Pacific Islands Healthcare System in Honolulu, Hawaii to raise the importance of being able to better provide healthcare services for veterans on Tinian and Rota.

Iakopo believes this can be achieved by having the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs pursue a mutually beneficial partnership with the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., allowing CHCC’s medical health centers on Tinian and Rota to expand its services and serve as Veterans Affairs outreach clinics.

Iakopo brought up this idea in his meeting with Dr. Adam M. Robinson Jr., director of the Veterans Affairs Pacific Islands Healthcare System at the Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Honolulu, Hawaii last May 5.

In a statement last Wednesday, Iakopo stated that CHCC is the CNMI’s only fully operational hospital and acknowledged that medical health centers on both islands already exist—the Tinian Health Center and Rota Health Center. However, the CNMI only has one Veterans Affairs contracted outreach clinic, which is currently at the Marina Heights II Business Plaza in Puerto Rico, Saipan. Veterans on Tinian and Rota who need veteran-centric healthcare services have to fly to Saipan at their own expense.

In a separate phone call on Thursday, Iakopo clarified that veterans on Tinian and Rota can go to and have been going to the health centers on their respective islands. However, adding on to the health centers’ services and having them recognized as DVA-contracted outreach clinics will allow the medical centers to be part of the DVA’s healthcare system and allow veterans on Tinian and Rota to avail of their veterans’ benefits, such as the DVA covering costs of medical services.

As such, Iakopo made clear to Robinson how essential it is that the DVA seeks out means to provide these veterans adequate healthcare. “Providing veterans on Rota and Tinian healthcare services is long overdue. …Our veterans are dissatisfied with the unfulfilled and unsatisfactory services,” said Iakopo in his statement.

In an statement that Robinson emailed to Iakopo, Robinson confirmed that he and Iakopo met “to discuss the unique needs of CNMI veterans and to explore options for enhancing care and services for veterans residing in Saipan, Tinian and Rota.” According to Iakopo, Robinson will be visiting the CNMI at the end of this year.