MuskogeePhoenix.com, Muskogee, OK

Editorials

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September 9, 2012

VAMC vital to our community

— The announcement of a new chief of staff for the Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center should remind us all how important the center is to our community.

It is a reminder of our history. The facility was named for an Oklahoma Cherokee who earned the Medal of Honor during World War II.

The center has been providing health cares services since it opened as Soldier’s Hospital in 1923.

It is important to our community because it provides health care to those who fight or have fought to protect all our freedoms.

It provides service to approximately 155,000 veterans in 25 counties of eastern Oklahoma.

It is important to our community because it is an integral part of what makes Muskogee a major regional health care hub.

It also employs more than 900 people to provide a variety of inpatient medical and surgical care along with outpatient primary and consultative care in medicine, surgery and psychiatry.

That makes the center a major economic driver.

That’s why we welcome the choice of Dr. Thomas D. Schneider to become the newest chief of staff.

The chief of staff’s job duties include leading the medical staff, participating in financial and other decisions for the hospital, strategic planning and looking for ways to improve efficiency.

“We just want to make sure we provide a quality service for our veterans,” he said.

Schneider has spent nine years at the center in various leadership roles so he knows how important the center is to our veterans and our community.

We wish Schneider good luck.

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