Heroes Next Door: Volunteer Glenn Uejio keeps an upbeat attitude at veterans’ center

Other people volunteer to spend time with disabled military veterans hospitalized at the Spark M. Matsunaga VA Medical Center, but none come as often — or as consistently — as Glenn Uejio.

And none of the unpaid volunteers has a more upbeat attitude than Uejio, said Dr. James Epure, medical director of the VA’s 60-bed Geriatrics, Rehabilitation & Extended Care Center.

“Glenn is probably one of the most positive people I’ve ever met,” Epure said. “He’ll tell the nurses or nurses’ aides, ‘Keep up the good work.’ He tries to pump people up.”

Uejio, 71, is perhaps best known as the owner of The Slipper House, one of Ala Moana Center’s original tenants, which Uejio shuttered in 2013 because of rising rent.

In the latest chapter of his life, Uejio began volunteering at the VA in 2014, mostly working with disabled senior citizen veterans, including a few from as far back as World War II.

His tasks can be as simple as sitting by a bedside talking story, or wheeling veterans outside for fresh air and a chance to sit with someone who listens.

But the responsibilities can turn serious any minute.

“I never thought I could do this, being around those that are marginalized, dealing with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and dying,” Uejio said. “I might play them music on my iPhone, meet their families, speak at their funerals, hold their hands as they’re dying. … I haven’t cried so much as I have in the last four years. It’s like God’s knocking on my door. It’s just so remarkable when you open yourself up, the things that God can do. It seems like a miracle happens every week.”

A couple of times a year, as on Dec. 4, Uejio is joined by his wife, Constance, 66, principal harpist with the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra, who gets an assist from her husband to wheel in one of her seven harps to serenade both patients and staff.

On her last visit a patient who had been unresponsive suddenly opened his eyes and waived goodbye as the Uejios left his hospital room.

“Two days later he died,” Glenn Uejio said.

Uejio, who has a college degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., enlisted as a Marine Corps grunt to fight in Vietnam in 1969, rather than join as an officer.

But Uejio rarely talks about his own military background with the vets at the VA.

He wants to focus on their needs.

And any attention on his volunteer work should really be focused on the need for more people to volunteer at the VA, Uejio said.

“He never talks about himself,” Constance Uejio said. “That’s not the point.”

Epure said people volunteer at the VA in many ways.

Some bring in comfort animals, dance hula or sing. Active-duty service members also frequently visit.

“Others come in and out,” Epure said. “It’s fair to say that he (Uejio) is the most consistent.”

The work of volunteers is “invaluable,” according to VA spokeswoman Amy Rohlfs.

“Glenn coming in is what we call a gift of time,” Rohlfs said. “You can’t put a price tag on what they do.”

The patients he helps typically are not visited often by friends or family — and Uejio said he prefers dealing with the most unruly or ornery.

“I said, ‘Don’t give me anybody easy. Give me your toughest patients,’” Uejio said. “They happened to all be in hospice. One died right away. A second guy had a heart condition and died. A third guy lasted a few months.”

Uejio experienced racism while attending college in New York, where he met Constance. But working at the VA reminds him of being a Marine, when he never felt discrimination and discovered a brotherhood.

At the VA, “from the doctors to the custodians, they care for the vets and included me as part of the team,” Uejio said. “It was like the Marines. I’m still very proud to be a Marine.”

Military service runs deep in the family.

“There are quite a few (veterans) on both sides,” Uejio said.

Constance’s dad served in World War II, and one of the Uejio’s sons, Steven, was an Army captain who served in The Old Guard, the Army infantry unit that guards the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington, Va., and serves at funerals.

Working with disabled veterans, some of whom fought in Vietnam and might never leave the VA, makes Uejio “knock on wood,” he said. “That could have been me.”

“We’ve got guys who were homeless or on drugs or dealing with suicide, chronic diseases that incapacitated them,” Uejio said. “But it’s not about me. We need more volunteers. That should be the emphasis.”

HELP OUT

To apply to volunteer at the VA’s Center for Aging, Geriatrics & Extended Care, call 433-0109.