 This is State Tech Hawaii. Community Matters here. I'm Marcia Joyner and we are navigating the journey. And today we are navigating the journey into the world of the military and given the numbers of military that live here in Hawaii. This is a great opportunity to talk to, and let me get this right, Carlos Santana, an advocate for veterans concerns, as well as community liaison for the office of U.S. Senator Maisie K. Hirono. Aloha Carlos. Aloha Marcia, how's everything going? Wonderful. Now, you are at the change of command ceremony, which is why you can't be here. So tell us about the change of command ceremony. What happened and where? That is correct. I'm at Schofield Barracks, where the medical clinic here on Schofield recently changed commanders. It seems to be a summertime thing. There's a big PCS season commanders coming in and goes about. We bid farewell to the outgoing commander who was Colonel Deidre Tainan. And we recognize and welcome in Colonel Dave Zimmerman as the new commander who's already taken command as of about maybe, I'd say, 30 minutes ago. He's officially in command now. Great. One of the things that we can't, we should tell everybody, because you talked about the change of command usually at this time of year. And that is because my father and both husbands were in the military, so I understand the change of command. And it's usually in the summer when children are out of school, which is why the military is gracious enough to understand that these things need to happen. So that's a footnote. That is correct. That's a footnote. That is relatively new as well, because in the past, change of command would happen any time of the year, but now the army and the military as a whole is really putting an emphasis on the family. So they're allowing, we're doing a lot of these changes in the summertime so kids can finish school one year and then start fresh in a new school year. Well, let's talk about Carlos, because when I got to the studio, of course, everybody said Carlos Santana, great. And so they're thinking of the musician, the thinking of the Mexican war, all these great Carlos Santanas. So let me tell you what I know about your accident of birth. This is the story that you told, and this is my version, okay, your grandfather was in the Bay of Pigs, in the invasion of the Bay of Pigs, and that was under JFK. That was his first time out as president. And so you said that had they, since they lost, you were born in Miami. Had they won, you would have been born in Cuba, and we wouldn't have this opportunity to talk to you. Did I get it right? That is correct, except I was my father. Your father, not your grandfather, your father. He was part of that 1959 Cuban movement to Florida and Miami and formed with the anti-Castro group, and they wanted to go back to Cuba and take their homeland back, which they felt had been taken from them by Mr. Castro and his army. Unfortunately, in April of 1961, their invasion was not successful. It was pretty much a one-sided victory on the Castro side. So had they, as you said, had they had a successful invasion and won, I'd be growing up in Cuba right now, which is not a bad thing, living in a Caribbean island, I guess, but now I'm on a Pacific island, so I guess not much, I can't get away from the islands, it seems. Well, of course not. I mean, that's who you are, and we're glad to have you here. And your credentials, my goodness. Now you are in Senator Hirono's office. In her Honolulu office. Now all of us know and love the senator, and she is running for reelection, and she's running unopposed. Is that correct? So far, she's running unopposed in the primary. In the primary, yeah. In the primary, in the Democratic primary, that is correct. But are there Republicans running against her? I believe there are about six or seven Republicans who have registered for the Republican primary, so after the primary, that'll be filtered down to one, and then it'll be a general election between Democrat-Republican and if there's any independence out there as well. Now, tell me if I've got, I'm going to talk about, from my point of view, having known her for 40 years, and watched her when she was in the, everybody has a mazy story. When she was in the House of Representatives, and we were fighting to get the Martin Luther King holiday, and we'd been, and you know when you go to conference, and the conference committee was jam-packed, everybody was there, but the audience, those of us, we don't get to say anything, we just get to be there. And the whole thing had come down to the name of the holiday. The unions said, well, it was okay to do this, but we had to do some other things because if we get another holiday, they would have to open their contracts and redo all of that. So it came down to what are we going to do? And so my thought was, okay, let's get rid of Good Friday, and I barely came away with my head. But we did settle on, there was nobody there to fight for Columbus, so we got rid of Columbus. Then it came time to what are we going to call this holiday? And you can't believe all the names that people came up with. And then there was this little voice way in the back of the conference room. And she says, well, let's call it what it is, Martin Luther King holiday. Thus, Maisie gave birth to the Martin Luther King holiday. It's a great story. It's pretty simple. I just call it what it is. Yeah, just call it what it is. And at the time, she was selected as the most popular member of the house. And so we have watched her grow and grow and grow, and her voice was still tiny and whatever. However, since her cancer, she has blossomed. Or have you seen that? She is more robust. She is alive. Her energy. Oh my goodness. What do you think? I think that she is definitely a strong advocate for Hawaii. And I think recent events in the past two years that just really invigorated her to really stay informed and involved even more so because the amount of information that a US senator has to absorb on a daily basis is, it's a huge amount of information. And she loves it. She takes it in. She can absorb it all and understand it all. And that's what gives her her energy, that she's making a difference in people's lives and helping people as best we can, helping people navigate the bureaucracy that is the government when they need assistance. And that's what energizes her. She's got the energy of a teenager, so she's always going. She's always asking great questions and always asking for more information as much as possible. Well, and the numbers of national, and of course with us, we love her and she's always there. But national news, I have seen her on all the stations, all of the ones that talk to us as Democrats and even Fox News. So she's everywhere. This is just magnificent. She is getting a lot of media requests that media wants to talk to her. And as much as her schedule allows, she loves talking to the people through the media so that there is no filter, right? That the senator can say what she says and it goes out live on TV and there's no media filter to it and she really enjoys that. Oh, well, I'm enjoying it also. Now, for the primary, she's running unopposed. So even though we live in different districts, do we all get to vote statewide for her? Yes, for senators, it's a statewide vote. So everybody who is a registered voter in the state of Hawaii can vote in the U.S. Senate vote. OK, and then that's that's August 11. And then she moves on to the 11th and there is early walk in. Yes, as a matter of fact, two days from now is the deadline to register to vote. So if you don't register, if you're not registered and you don't register by the 12th, I believe, which is in two days, there's still an option. You can still go in and register same day, but it just creates a little bit more of a time commitment on the voting day instead of just registering now ahead of time. Well, and if you get registered, should you get registered? And I think most people, at least the ones that watch us are already registered. The idea is to vote. So many times we hear people say, we hear people say, oh, there's nothing to vote for. So give us something to vote for. I think we're seeing now that that elections have consequences way beyond who sits in the office. It's not just about the person sitting in the office, but what what that person can do in that office has consequences for generations to come. As we're seeing with the Supreme Court and correct what it portends to be. And I noticed that your senator and senator shots both came out immediately and said, no, we have got to slow this process down so we get to vote. Is that correct? Correct. Did I get that right? Good. That is correct that she's always for debate, discussion, and as much as possible. As a matter of fact, there's a judicial appointment from here in Hawaii. Mr. Mark Bennett was appointed to fill a federal judge seat. And the senators normally, when they vote for something called cloture, that means they're going to limit the debate. And she always votes against that because she doesn't like limiting the debate. In Mark Bennett's case, she was going to vote in favor of his appointment. However, she voted against cloture because that's just the way she is. She always wants open debate and an open process. Well, now, we need to take a break. But when we come back, I want to talk about the VA. The difference in the state and the feds, OK? We'll be right back. This is Think Tech Hawaii, raising public awareness. So I do. Aloha, welcome to Hawaii. This is Prince Dykes, your host of The Prince of Investing. Coming to you guys each and every Tuesday at 11 AM. Right here on Think Tech Hawaii. Don't forget to come by and check out some of the great information on stocks, investings, your money, all the other great stuff. And I'll be your host. See you Tuesday. Aloha. I'm Marcia, and we are back. Today, we are talking to Carlos Santana, who is a community liaison for in the office of Senator Maisie Hirono, our dearly lovable senator. I wonder if other states have senators they can call lovable. Oh, that's that's all this. That Carlos is an expert in community liaison. Now, tell us the difference, because most people don't know the difference in the Hawaii state veterans office and the federal veterans association. Tell us the difference. Yeah, that's a great question, because a lot of people seem to be confused about which office they need to go to for certain things. So the Department of Veterans Affairs is a federal department, a federal agency. And it's a cabinet level. Actually, the secretary of the VA sits on the president's cabinet. And their mission is to care for veterans. As Lincoln said, right, who have borne the burden of the battle and their widow and their orphan. So that's their job. It's a federal program and depending on time of service and type of service and all that stuff, veterans can qualify for different benefits. It could be education benefits, a home loan guarantee could be health care. It just depends on the veterans needs. Now, then there's the state level, which is the Hawaii office of veterans services. And what they do is they assist veterans here in Hawaii to research those benefits to find out what they're eligible for. So it's almost like a supplement to the department, to the federal department of veterans affairs. Mr. Ron Han is the lead, the director of the Hawaii office of veterans services. And that's basically what it is, veterans services. It's like, what does a veteran need? That can be a good starting point for them. And they're located in tripler in the E wing on the first floor. And if you keep going down that hallway, you'll see a disabled veterans office of veterans for the war's office. And those people are all there to help and assist veterans and answer questions and direct them to the right door, if you will, on what they're looking for and make sure that they get what they need. And it's a government agency. So it's not always the most efficient thing in the world. But government's not efficient. I mean, it was designed not to be efficient. So, yeah. But there are people there to help and say, this is what you qualify for. This is what you're eligible for. It's a great program. And there's so many benefits. I know the VA website can be very intimidating because there's just so much on there and it takes a while to navigate. But that's why we're there. That's why we're here. That's why we do what we do to help people navigate the process. Well, now speaking of the state, you may remember a few weeks ago the morgue, the city morgue, had a veteran, but nobody claimed him. And they were begging for somebody to come claim the body, tell us something. So I'm in tears and I told my husband I'm going to claim him. And so he knew better than to say, don't do it. I called Colonel Hahn all day, all night, until he finally called back. OK, Ms. Marsha, don't worry. We'll take care of him. We take care of him. And I said, well, I'm claiming him. So the burial will be this coming Friday the 13th. Friday the 13th. OK. At the memorial in Connolly, this, OK, veterans. That is correct. So this particular case, go ahead. No, go ahead. I was just going to say, this particular case got a lot of attention in the media. It appears the medical examiner had contacted the media in an attempt to get this information as broadcast as wide as possible. Because they were really having trouble identifying or finding a next of kin for this gentleman. And it's good to know that this is, unfortunately, this happens probably four to six times a year, where there are veterans who are unclaimed. Maybe they moved here and their family's on the mainland. But the Veterans Benefits Office, the Regional Officer in Honolulu, which is headed by Karen Gooden, has staff that work on this full-time. And what they do is they coordinate the effort between the Veterans Benefits, the Veterans Health Agency, the Hawaii Office of Veterans Services, the National Cemetery Administration, all the BSOs, you know, BFW, DAV, all those guys. If you know directors get involved, then of course the medical examiner is involved. And the goal is to identify the veteran if they're not identified, but then find out what was their status of their service and then what's where's their next of kin. It's not, you know, like another, it's a process where you just have to go step by step and say, OK, was this person a veteran? Did this person, do we have their records? Do we have their DD 214? All these things that just come into play to make sure that this veteran can get taken care of and placed honorably in their final resting place. Like Mr. James Sands, who you said, will be laid to rest on Friday. On Friday? Well, part of the problem was there was no DD 214. At least that's what I was told. And so that's what took even longer. However, because of the media, some of his friends came forward and said where he lived and what he did have other documents and pictures. So it wasn't like he was totally alone. But when I first saw it, I just went to pieces and I claimed him and I told Colonel Hawn, he's mine. I am claiming this one. And take good care of it. So anyway, it's a very important lesson, I think, for all of us to have some kind of packet that has all of our information on DD 214 or what they call estate planning with all that stuff. So in the cemetery, the National Cemetery Administration has done something phenomenal. They have created this program called a pre-need eligibility verification. And I've done this for myself where I fill out the form, I send them my DD 214 and then they verify my eligibility for burial and memorial services. And they send me a document that verifies that. So I put that with my estate document so that when the time comes, it uses the burden off of the family. Because at the death of anybody is always a traumatic issue for the family that dealing with the consequences after that can be even more stressful. So putting that all together for the family, say, Mr. Sands has passed away, here's his DD 214, here's his cemetery eligibility verification. It just makes things a little bit easier for everyone involved. Four situations that you know we're all gonna need at some point, hopefully later on down the road, but at some point it's gonna come, I think it's unavoidable. Well, yeah, and then there's the green form that everybody, you can go online, it's the green form. And for all veterans, I guess for everybody, not just veterans, it's, and it tells whatever so that if you have 911, here is what we want. So it's not after you get to the hospital, but immediately it tells them what you have, what you do, what you don't want. And it is a green form and you can just Google the green form. Now, I wanna talk about speaking of the military. The VA Mission Act of 2018, and the VA Mission Act, officially renamed the John S. McCain III, Daniel K. Akaka, and Samuel R. Johnson, VA Maintenance Internal System and Strengthening Integrated Outside Network Act. That's a lot, a name. And- It is a lot, if you notice, I don't know if you noticed, I don't know if you caught this, but when you say maintaining internal systems and strengthening integrated outside networks, that's where the word mission comes from. And what I picked up on, of course, is that this new, the Veterans Community Care Program, VCCP, always, will establish a network of outside healthcare providers for enrolled veterans residing in Alaska, Hawaii, and New Hampshire, who reside more than 40 miles from a VA medical facility. And it's really interesting because of our geography, most people are more than 40 miles away because we only have Motsanaga and sometimes Tripler right here on O'ahu. And then one facility on each island, which, what are the three on a big island? That is more than 40 miles away from everybody. So I am really pleased with this, and currently there are more than 125,000 people in Hawaii who are eligible for VA services and only one inpatient facility and seven outpatient facilities. So this is exciting. So tell me more about the bill. So what this does is when you read it, you think, oh, they're adding another community care program, but they're really not. What they're doing is this community care program is to consolidate all these other programs that have been going on for years. Over the past 40, 50 years, they've been adding programs as needed and the last one as we all know was 2014, the Veterans Choice Program. That one got off to a little bit of a rocky start because it was implemented quickly and it was kind of in a crisis mode. This one now, the Admission Act was a little bit more thought through and it's been in discussions for years. And the point is to take all those other programs and combine them into one to kind of reduce the government bureaucracy with all these different programs and the plan is to have one coherent program where veterans can get the care that they need either first through the VA and if not through the VA, then through a community provider who can see this veteran in a timely manner and process their payments and process their claims so that the provider gets the payment that they're due from the VA, which was a problem in the initial stages of the choice program where we wanted to get the veterans in to see the doctors as quickly as possible but then the payments kind of were taken a while because the system got overwhelmed and as a matter of that, then we lose some providers because they can't afford to keep seeing veterans if they're not gonna get their payment. Well, you know, now the military personnel and dependents are huge in Hawaii simply because we have so many bases and most people don't think of this but if you have a member of your family that's 70 years of age or older, they were drafted this so there's almost all families in Hawaii are affected by this because there were so many people drafted and my God, right now there's 26,000 disabled veterans and a lot of that has to do with and I speak from experience, age and orange. That's why there's so many here because my husband has age and orange and all of those things that the military and dependents and retirees including 112,000 business owned by military veterans. So anyway, darling, when we look- A couple things also that I wanna mention in the Mission Act as well. One of them that is pretty big is the caregiver program, which was expanded because prior to this, the caregiver program was only available to post-911 veterans but now due with the Mission Act, we've expanded that program and all veterans from all eras are now eligible for that program which is a great step forward because it's the post-911 veterans while yes, some of them do need caregivers, it's the prior generation who are getting up in age and they're the ones who are gonna need to service more. So that's one. And the other one, which is really important as well is criteria to determine what is an underserved area. The department has until I believe sometimes in November to develop criteria to analyze facilities and determine which facilities are underserved. And some of the criteria that they'll look at are the ratio of vets to providers, the range of specialties that are provided to them, is the facility able to meet its wait time goals, things like that. And then sometime next year, they actually start annual analysis of facilities using these criteria to determine if a facility is underserved. And if it is declared to be underserved, then the plan is to give them or plus stop staffing, which could be an increase in personnel, even if it's only temporary through mobile deployment teams, they will get hiring incentives such as debt reduction and maybe even get direct hiring authority. So that these areas that may be underserved have an avenue to increase their services to better serve the community. Well, my last little pitch here is that our current Congress people, Senator Brian Schatz, Senator Mazie Hirono, House member, Colleen Honabusa and Tulsi Gabbard, they are all very much involved in passing this bill. And it's a bipartisan bill, so not all Democrats voted for it, but ours did. So I want to give them a shout out to them. It is a great team effort between Senator Hirono being on the Senate Armed Services and the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Senator Schatz on the Appropriations Committee and he's the ranking member on the Milcon VA Appropriations Subcommittee and Tulsi Gabbard as well as on Senate Armed Services and Colleen Honabusa's always been a great advocate for veterans as well. So it's a great team effort and we're moving forward. The system's not perfect and it might never be, but that doesn't mean we don't try to make it perfect and get as close as possible. Well, thank you so much for spending this time with us and I'll see you Friday. Aloha. Alrighty, thank you. Aloha.