Besides the Commonwealth Health Center, which Hastings visited last month, the VA official may still consider other locations on Saipan for a VA clinic, Coleman said.
Veterans Affairs Secretary James B. Peake recently formed a task force whose members met in Honolulu, Hawaii three weeks ago to discuss future health care and benefit services to the veterans in the Pacific insular areas and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
After receiving inputs from the VA offices in the Pacific, the task force assessed a wide range of health care services and benefit needs of veterans in the CNMI, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.
The recommendations, according to the VA statement, “will be another step in improving access and quality of health care and benefits delivery improvements for our veteran populations.”
Part of the overall goal of the task force is to improve the quality of health care for all Pacific island citizens, the VA added.
Over the past few years, Coleman has been trying to convince federal authorities to open a VA outreach clinic in the CNMI where 1,500 veterans reside.
