Senate bill would fund new veterans health care center on Oahu

KHON - June 6, 2014

By: Web Staff

A Congressional Senate bill would add a new health care center on Oahu to help improve services for veterans.

The 180,000-square foot facility, to be called the Advance Leeward Outpatient Health Access (ALOHA) Center, would be built on the Ewa plain. It would double the VA’s existing clinical capacity on the island and expected to provide health services for about 15,000 island veterans.

The other facility on Oahu is the Spark M. Matsunaga VA Medical Center at Tripler Army Medical Center.

“We have that little warrior clinic out in Kalaeloa where I live, and that’s been very helpful, so veterans and their families don’t have to drive all the way to Tripler,” said Senator Mike Gabbard, “so just the possibility of this happening just means so much to our families out there.”

The Department of Veterans Affairs has come under fire recently for allegations of poor hospital care.

If the Congressional bill passes, it would fund more than 12 new VA facilities nationwide.

Hawaii U.S. Senator Brian Schatz is a co-sponsor of the bill, which was introduced by Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

For more about health care for veterans, go to http://www.va.gov/health/.