{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://tokuda.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-jill-tokuda-visits-molokai-and-hilo-focused-services-veterans-and-access", "Rep. Jill Tokuda Visits Moloka\u02bbi and Hilo Focused on Services to Veterans and Access to Healthcare and Mental Health Services", "2024-01-08", "2024", "2024-01", "Democrat", "House", "HI", "Jill N. Tokuda", "T000487", "tokuda.house.gov", "tokuda", "https://tokuda.house.gov/media/press-releases?PageNum_rs=8&", "scraper", "(Honolulu, HI) \u2013 Representative Jill Tokuda had meetings and toured sites on Moloka\u02bbi and in Hilo this week with a focus on veterans and access to healthcare and mental health services in our rural and remote communities.\n\nIn Hilo, Rep. Tokuda toured the site of Hale Na Koa \u2018O Hanakahi, a 92-unit affordable housing development for veterans and their surviving spouses. The site will include a community center and future plans include the addition of an outpatient clinic on the adjoining property. She later visited the Veterans Affairs Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) and a potential building site for a new, larger CBOC in Hilo.\n\nOn Molokai, Rep. Tokuda met with the Moloka\u02bbi Veterans Caring for Veterans Board to discuss the long-standing challenges they\u2019ve faced in getting much-needed services for veterans to the island.\n\n\u201cIt breaks my heart when a veteran tells me the war is over, but they are still fighting\u2014for recognition, for services, for the support they need and more than deserve,\u201d said Representative Jill Tokuda. \u201cWe have a responsibility to take care of those who took care of us.\u201d\n\nWhile in Hilo, Rep. Tokuda also toured the Legacy Hilo Rehabilitation and Nursing Center and met with the Hawai\u02bbi Provider Shortage Crisis Task Force to discuss various challenges, including staffing shortages and inadequate Medicare reimbursement to healthcare providers. During these meetings, Rep. Tokuda talked about her co-sponsorship and support for crucial legislation that can help to address some of the hardships providers are facing, including the Equitable Payments for Skilled Nursing Facilities Act of 2023, the Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act, the Strengthening Medicare for Patients and Providers Act, and the Preserving Seniors\u2019 Access to Physicians Act of 2023.\n\nOn Molokai, Rep. Tokuda held a talk story with local advocates focused on increasing access to care, especially for kupuna and in the area of mental health and suicide prevention. Statistics have long shown that suicide rates have been higher on the neighbor islands and in Hawaii\u2019s rural communities, where access to mental health services and professionals are severely lacking.\n\n\u201cAccess to healthcare and mental health services is a right that must not be based on where you live. We\u2019ve got to acknowledge that Hawaii has been in a state of crisis when it comes to taking care of the physical and mental health needs of our people,\u201d said Tokuda. \u201cThis is a matter of life or death, and I have heard too many heartbreaking stories of what happens when people and communities cannot access the care they need. We need to act with urgency to support both our public and private providers, strengthen our workforce pipeline, and remove barriers to access, from transportation to broadband. It\u2019s with this sense of urgency that I set out to relaunch and co-lead the Bipartisan Rural Health Caucus in Congress. Sadly, this is a crisis plaguing communities across our country, and we need to advocate for policies and take action that will improve the delivery of healthcare and mental health services in rural and remote America.\u201d\n\nPhotos of Rep. Tokuda\u2019s visits can be found here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T23:46:48Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://tokuda.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-jill-tokuda-visits-molokai-and-hilo-focused-services-veterans-and-access"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8566882461309433, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}