Military families hoping that a new clinic for patients with illnesses linked to fuel contamination near Honolulu, Hawaii, would provide answers on their health say the hastily established facility is an appeasement to their community with little to offer.
The Defense Health Agency Region Indo-Pacific Red Hill Clinic began scheduling appointments Dec. 27 for military patients sickened by a massive fuel leak into the drinking water system last year at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and saw its first patients starting Tuesday.
But the rollout, according to families, has been anything but smooth, and patients say the level of care they received on opening day was not what they expected.
Read Next: No Action Taken Against Army Officer After Public Dustup with Tucker Carlson over Women Serving
Bel Miles, a retired Navy sailor and Navy spouse, was one of 17 patients who called for an appointment prior to the clinic's opening on Jan. 3. Using the system set up by the Defense Department to schedule visits for herself, her active-duty husband and two children, she faced long periods on hold, was disconnected several times and met with confusion by staff at the Tricare Nurse Advice Line — the military health system's national appointment call center — who were unfamiliar with the new facility.
She was told that her husband could not be seen at the facility, since he is on active duty, and was asked to give a medical history for…
