Honolulu, Hawaii - U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) praised VA's announcement today of a new community outpatient clinic for leeward Oahu residents scheduled to open in 2010.  Akaka pushed for the new clinic to serve west side veterans who currently must fight traffic into town for simple procedures.  When this clinic opens, VA clinicians will be available in the neighborhood to provide primary care and other health care services.  The new clinic will serve approximately 8,000 veterans, or approximately one third of the county's veteran population.  This will relieve strain on other VA medical facilities and allow for better patient care.

Akaka said: "The needs of our veterans on Leeward Oahu are growing over time.  This new clinic will provide them with the basic services they need and have earned through their service.  It will spare them from battling traffic into town and reduce the pinch of high energy costs."

Senator Akaka raised the need for this clinic at an official Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee hearing on Oahu in August 2007.  When construction of the clinic languished, Senator Akaka also wrote a letter to VA Under Secretary for Health Michael Kussman in October 2008, urging the expedited completion of the clinic.  Akaka is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. 

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