VAO continues focus on veterans’ healthcare challenges

CNMI Veterans Affairs Office executive officer Stanley T. Iakopo, right, meets with Star Marianas Air president Shaun Christian. (Office of the Governor)

The CNMI Veterans Affairs Office under the Office of the Governor continues to address veterans’ healthcare challenges, such as the vendorization of Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. pharmacies on all three islands, credentialing and increasing numbers of healthcare providers on all three islands, and asking the only interisland commuter airline, Star Marianas Air, to become a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs vendor.

“Aside from face to face meetings with VA Pacific Islands Health Care System in late January, I have been actively collaborating via Zoom meetings with Dr. [Adam] Robinson and the [U.S. Veterans Affairs] team from Washington, D.C.,” said Stanley T. Iakopo, who is the executive officer for the CNMI Veterans Affairs Office. “It has been a long and obstinate process that our honorable veterans have been through over the years, but I am confident that the partnership that we now have with VA Pacific Islands Health Care System is much stronger than ever before.”

He said that Star Marianas Air is directly working with the VA and going through the final process of becoming a VA vendor airline. “This means that our veterans traveling from Rota and Tinian will no longer have to pay out-of-pocket for their own airline tickets when flying to Saipan for medical appointments,” Iakopo said.

Star Marianas Air president Shaun Christian said that, based on the Office of Veterans Affairs director’s introduction, SMA has already received confirmation from the VA in late January. He said the Veterans Administration Supply Chain Management Services has contacted SMA to let it know that they are working on providing SMA with the information needed to become established as a vendor to VA. In mid-February, SMA received the Vendor File Request Form from the VA and on Feb. 23 it submitted all requested information. He said that SMA has received confirmation that the form was received and is being processed, which will eventually lead to SMA being an approved vendor to the VA.

“We look forward to continuing to work through this process and hope that this will make the travel experience a little easier for our Veterans,” said Christian. 

Robinson, who is the director of VA Pacific Islands Health Care System, confirmed that both he and Iakopo have met to discuss the unique needs of CNMI veterans and to explore options for enhancing care and services for veterans on Saipan, Tinian and Rota.

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres commends the CNMI Veterans Affairs Office for its hard work in supporting and accommodating veterans in the CNMI, “I would like to thank [Iakopo] and the CNMI Veterans Affairs Office for continuing to find ways for our veterans [on] Tinian and Rota to have access to healthcare. In our recent veteran town hall meetings, many of our local veterans expressed the need for improved access to healthcare. This is one step toward improving the overall accessibility to healthcare for all our veterans in the CNMI.” (PR)