VA Hawaii chief sets a deadline

Three months.

That’s how long the Veterans Affairs health care director in Hawaii has to make good on his promises to drastically reduce the amount of time patients wait to see a primary-care physician for the first time.

The pressure has been building since a nationwide audit found that incoming patients at Hawaii facilities have the longest average wait time in the country — a whopping 145-day average.

Wayne Pfeffer, director of the VA Pacific Islands Health Care System, hopes to cut that average to 30 days within the next three months.

He must know that talk is cheap at this point. Results are what count.

UH at right place at the right time

Sometimes Hawaii’s seemingly innocuous position in the middle of the Pacific really pays off — such as in marine studies. And the University of Hawaii certainly has a solid record where ocean research is concerned.

So enthusiastic applause is due to the UH School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, which just won a $40 million grant to launch the Simons Collaboration on Ocean Processes and Ecology.

SCOPE, as it’s known, will advance our understanding of oceanic microorganisms in studies being done at an established research site about 60 miles off Kahuku Point.

As the foundation reports, these tiny microbes do a titanic job capturing solar energy and producing and consuming greenhouse gases, among other functions. At a time when climate change is under the microscope, better understanding of the Pacific will be critical.