By CLAUDINE SAN NICOLAS, Staff Writer

WAILUKU - Maui veterans will hold a second public protest Friday to show their anger and frustration over the loss of a well-liked physician at the Maui Community Based Outpatient Clinic in Kahului.

About a dozen of the 20 veterans who held signs calling for a congressional investigation last week fronting the Hoohana Street clinic regrouped Monday at the Maui Veterans Center in Wailuku to discuss their concerns. They said they will hold another sign-waving protest at 8:30 a.m. Friday, and are inviting veterans and the general public to join them in demonstrating their distress over the failings of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Navy veteran David Texeira, 56, drove in from his Keanae home Monday to express his frustration and to show support for his fellow veterans. Texeira did not attend last week's demonstration but said he plans to show up Friday with many others.

"We need doctors who are going to stay and get to know us. The longer they stay, the more they get to know us and we get to know them. Then we can trust them," he said.

"I'm very bitter at the VA system," said Carl Haupt, a 59-year-old Pukalani veteran, who recalled the dedication of the Kahului facility back in 2001, when U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye described it as a "model clinic" for the state.

"It's not a model clinic. Positively not. But it has the potential to be a model clinic," Haupt said.

The veterans said the Veterans Affairs office in Honolulu should have done more to retain the physician, who was let go at the beginning of May, and the office needs to do more to recruit a new doctor to provide basic services.

The veterans point out they've seen at least three full-time doctors leave the post in just seven years' time.

The most recent full-time physician was hired in May 2007 following a six-month vacancy.

Even before the vacancy occurred, Hawaii Sen. Daniel Akaka, chairman of the Committee on Veterans Affairs, issued an appeal to the DVA "concerning ongoing staffing issues at the Community Based Outpatient Clinic on Maui." He urged the department to hire a second physician to fill a position that is allocated to the clinic.

"I believe it is imperative to fully staff the clinic, and ask that you expedite recruitment and hiring for the second physician position," Akaka said.

Fred Ballard, public affairs officer with the VA Pacific Islands Health Care System, could not be reached for comment Monday. He told The Honolulu Advertiser last week that the physician who left in 2006 did so because of the high cost of living on Maui. The doctor who left most recently was terminated "because of failure to fully meet the requirements of employment during her probationary period."

The physician could not be reached for comment Monday.

Karl Calleon, 58, of Pukalani, said the last time he saw a doctor was in the late 1960s when he was preparing to serve in the Vietnam War. He checked into the clinic in January of this year after experiencing chest pains.

He said he found the doctor to be caring and compassionate, and had talked to her just a week before she was terminated. He said he does not believe the public protests will get her to return.

"Seriously I don't think anything is going to be done," Calleon said.

Still, he said he would love to see her come back, especially because he does not know whether a new doctor would be of any help to him.

"It will be hard. I have to start all over again . . . build trust," Calleon said.

Rogelio "Roger" Evangelista, a disabled Vietnam veteran and president of the Maui County Veterans Council, said the loss of a physician is only one of the complaints veterans have about medical services on island. There are also issues relating to billing, lengthy waits for appointments and unavailability of care on weekends.

Veterans were particularly insulted when referred to a toll-free phone number to talk to a nurse, because of the temporary staff reduction.

"I was angry," said Ned Purdy Sr., a veteran who chose not to call as instructed and ended up seeking emergency services at Kula Hospital.

Purdy, a former Marine, eventually was diagnosed with an infected urethra and was treated by the clinic doctor who was terminated.

"She was treating me fine, then all of a sudden she's gone," Purdy said.

Ballard reportedly told Honolulu media that officials are expected to begin interviewing seven or eight applicants for the physician position. Meanwhile, besides the remaining physician at the clinic, an Oahu doctor is flying in to provide services at the Maui outpatient clinic twice a week.

Ballard said the clinic has a nurse practitioner and will get a physician's assistant in July.

Mitch Skaggerberg, president of the Vietnam Veterans of Maui County, said the Veterans Affairs office promised in April 2007 that a contingency plan would be implemented in the absence of a full-time physician. But the veterans don't see such a plan going into effect. Instead, appointments are backing up and being rescheduled because of the loss of one physician.

Evangelista said he brought the issue to the attention of Congresswoman Mazie Hirono, who sent a letter May 22 asking the VA about the Maui situation. Hirono's communications director, Marvin Buenconsejo, said Monday that the congresswoman's office continues to monitor the situation but has not yet received any updates from the VA.

"Clearly we're concerned as well," Buenconsejo said.

Backing up his appeal for a second physician on Maui, Akaka on May 2 introduced a bill, S. 2969, the Veterans Medical Personnel Recruitment and Retention Act of 2008, providing for the VA to establish "locality and comparability pay" for medical professionals.

"To be the health care employer of choice, VA must be able to offer competitive salaries, work schedules and benefits," Akaka said.

• Claudine San Nicolas can be reached at claudine@mauinews.com.

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