Kimberlyn King-Hinds Presses VA Sec. Doug Collins For Update On Vet Center Outstation Serving Her District

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During a House Veterans' Affairs Committee hearing last week, Del. Kimberlyn King-Hinds (R-CNMI) questioned VA Secretary Doug Collins about the proposed vet center outstation proposed in her district.

Transcript

00:00Thank you. Representative King-Hines, you're next. Recognize for seven minutes.

00:06Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Secretary Collins, for your time today.

00:11I have the privilege and great pride, actually, of representing the CNMI, Commonwealth of the

00:16Northern Mariana Islands. We have hundreds of veterans who lack essential VA health care and

00:21VA resources because we are a remote community. And with your help and the help of my colleagues

00:28in this committee, I hope we can start affecting serious change and improvement for many of

00:33our veterans, one of whom is here today, who flew 8,000 miles for some other business. He's

00:39back in the back row, Mr. Brat Rosala, who is the local VFW representative for Saipan.

00:47So, you know, with the help of the chairman and his amazing team, I've been pushing to fill the

00:54only VA administrative role in the entire CNMI, a position that has been vacant for over 18 months.

01:00The administrative specialist position is a critical resource for our community of underserved

01:04veterans. It's the only person in the CNMI, actually, that's responsible for assisting our

01:09vets by answering questions, providing information, giving guidance. And, you know, given your earlier

01:14statement about, you know, our veterans don't need to hire somebody or, you know, get somebody to be

01:21advocating for them, right? That position has been very critical, a critical lifeline to

01:28getting our vets to be able to get the help they need. Is there any way you can provide us an update

01:34with that? I appreciate that. And I thank you for your work. I mean, you're in an area that is, again,

01:38remote, as you said, it's very difficult. But in working with you and our folks have been talking

01:44about this, we recognize the vacancy in that position and have worked with that to make sure it was

01:49not affected in any of our hiring freeze or anything else. And I'm here also as your one who has

01:54traveled 8,000 miles, that your new administrative specialist will be on the job June 16th of this

01:59year. Oh, my gosh, that is amazing news. Very much welcome. You know, God forbid that you wake up a

02:07little late, right? Because a lot of times to be able to get for our vets to be able to get the

02:11service, they have to call Guam. And then Guam has to go through Honolulu. So if you miss that time

02:17period, you just don't get the service at all for that day. So thank you. Much appreciated.

02:23Well, I want to thank you and the chairman and the ranking member and all on this who've actually

02:27helped through this and get this done. And I appreciate that work. And again, sometimes it

02:31just takes, you know, we got to push and there's in just an area that's very difficult to find

02:34work in. But hopefully you'll be able to have a good success starting in June of this year.

02:40Thank you very much. So just one other thing. In December of 2023, the VA announced the establishment

02:47of a vet center outstation in the CNMI, a smaller satellite office aimed at improving access to

02:53counseling services for veterans and service members. This was incredibly welcome, as there's

02:59currently a significant lack of services available to the veterans in the CNMI. However, a year and a

03:05half later, the outstation has yet to be established. The most recent update we have is that the outstation

03:11is in the leasing phase with no set date for its opening. Can you please provide an update on the

03:16status of the VA's effort to open the vet center outstation in the CNMI? Specifically, at what stage

03:22is the process and when can we expect it to be operational? And I know you've mentioned some

03:27challenges with procurement and leasing processes. So any update would be very welcome at this point.

03:33Congressman, I wish I could go one for, you know, two for two here, but I can't on this one, but I can

03:39give you at least a little bit. So 500 is at least better than none. Yeah. It is still in that lease

03:43process. And as I said earlier, this is a part that I really wish we could have some change on. We've

03:47got to get this better. But it is still in that leasing process. But I want to go ahead and say,

03:52what are we doing to look ahead? And that is that the readjustment counseling service is currently

03:56recruiting for counseling positions and expect selection and onboarding in the next several months.

04:01And it's dependent on available color wise. So we're actually already looking for folks to fill

04:06that position and we'll continue to look for a place to put them and, you know, to get your help

04:12that you need. All right. Thank you. I yield the remainder of my time, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much

04:17for your time.

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