The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Pacific Islands Healthcare System (VAPIHCS) has begun holding clinics for patients with amputations at the VA Guam Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC), Tutuhan. The CBOC is the first facility in the VAPHICS to receive services for individuals with amputations. The VA and Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, will share the cost of the clinic, expected to be $1.5 million per year; however, the cost savings by having prosthetics care taking place on the island has saved taxpayers $770,000 in the first seven months of 2014, according to the Pacific News Station.
The clinic will be held on a rotational basis. Aaron Williams, chief of prosthetics at VAPHICS, spearheaded the clinic’s development. He will also hold clinics for patients with amputations for the remainder of the VA clinics in the Western Pacific region.
Williams told the Pacific News Station that veterans in Guam with prosthetic needs can now be treated with facilities and technology on par with the mainland, reducing their need to travel from Guam for treatment. He is also working with the U.S. Naval Hospital Guam, Tutuhan, to provide similar clinics to active duty members as well as to veterans.
