James E. Van Zandt VA Medical Center

07/22/2025

Congratulations to Sergeant Jason Weyant for receiving the July 2025 Bee Award!

"I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the extraordinary actions of police officer Jason Weyant. Yesterday a Veteran in the main medical center found himself very overwhelmed due to many factors including some healthcare needs, pain, life stressors, etc. While waiting in line for his meds at the pharmacy window, he felt his emotions overcoming him and realized he was going to get angry and lose his cool. He began heading to the main entrance without his medication and in a state of escalation.
Lucky for this Veteran, he encountered Officer Weyant.

Officer Weyant recognized this Veteran’s distress and engaged in conversation listening and deescalating the situation. Officer Weyant recognized that this Veteran needed to connect with the mental health team as soon as possible. He assessed the situation and knew that the urgent care center was very busy and that directing the Veteran there may result in greater stress. He encouraged the Veteran to go to Building 32. The Veteran agreed and went there with Officer Weyant accompanying him. By this time, the Veteran had found his person for the day, someone to trust in the moment.

While the MH Nurses assessed the Veteran and arranged for same day access services, Officer Weyant stood by, ensuring the Veteran felt safe and supporting the mental health team. An appointment was secured with the Veteran’s therapist who was able to see him in about 15 minutes. Knowing that the Veteran still needed his medications from the pharmacy, Officer Weyant offered to accompany the Veteran back to pharmacy, waited with him in line and then escorted him back to building 32, waiting with him until the therapist was finished with his current patient. Officer Weyant stayed with the Veteran until the handoff to the therapist was complete.

This Veteran was able to address his immediate emotions, develop a plan to move forward and allowed the team to contact his son to come pick him up ensuring he had the extra support when he went home. This Veteran was very grateful for the actions of officer Jason Weyant as we all are. Thank you!"

07/20/2025

Reminder Veterans-

The James E. Van Zandt VA Medical Center Indiana Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) is moving to a new location Monday, July 21st, 2025.
The new CBOC will be open to patients starting at Noon!
The new clinic is located at 101 IRMC Drive in Indiana, conveniently located near the Indiana Regional Medical Center.
If you have any questions regarding an upcoming appointment or need to schedule, call us at 814-943-8164.
We are looking forward to serving those who served at our new location starting Monday!

07/16/2025

The James E. Van Zandt VA Medical Center Indiana Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) will be moving to a new location on Monday, July 21st, 2025.

The new clinic is located at 101 IRMC Drive in Indiana, conveniently located near the Indiana Regional Medical Center.

If you or a loved one has questions regarding an upcoming appointment or need to schedule, call 814-943-8164.

07/12/2025

What an incredible day of music, classic cars and enrollment into VA healthcare!

Thank you to everyone who came out for our Summer VetFest. We had a blast and we hope you did too!

07/12/2025

Don’t forget to stop over today to see all the classic cars and enroll in VA Healthcare. We are here until 4:00 p.m. today.

07/11/2025

Come out on July 12th for our Summer VetFest! We will be having an Enrollment Fair and Car Show from Noon to 4:00 pm at the James E. Van Zandt VAMC in Altoona, PA.

07/10/2025

We are so excited for Summer VetFest on Saturday!

Check out the map for the event.

07/04/2025

Today, Freedom Ride hosted their annual Bike Ride through Tyrone. While at the event, The James E. Van Zandt VA Medical Center was presented a $50,000 check.

Freedom Ride continues to support the Veterans in our community and our VA.

Donors like this allow us to expand services and provide resources to Veterans.

Thank you to our Friends at Freedom Ride for this generous donation and for inviting us to participate in this great event!

Happy Independence Day to all! 🇺🇸

07/03/2025

Check out this article below on July 4th!

We’ve gathered a few pointers to help make the 4th of July enjoyable for all — especially those who have served our country in the military.

06/27/2025

Yesterday, 9-year-old Makenzie Baranik donated $325 dollars to the James E. Van Zandt’s DAV program. Makenzie earned the money with a lemonade stand she runs near her home in Altoona. She’s given to various charities over the last 3 years and this month she wanted to help support the program and volunteers that drive Veterans in need. John Clay, Chief of the Altoona VA’s Center for Development and Civic Engagement, accepted the donation at the facility.

Thank you so much Makenzie for the incredible donation to help our local Veterans.

06/26/2025

Congratulations to our June Daisy Award Winner, Amy Koren!

The patient was seen in the Urgent Care Center at the Altoona, VAMC. He was in distress from not being able to breath at night. He was in some distress and concern about his breathing issues. Home oxygen was to be set up at his home 2 days prior. However, he was not set up with oxygen at home.

Ms. Koren did the research and contacted numerous people concerning the lack of oxygen for this veteran patient. This coordination of home oxygen is not her main job duty. Ms. Koren took it upon herself to make sure the patient was set up at home for oxygen therapy. She contacted the respiratory therapist, and the contacting company that sets up patient oxygen in the home; making sure that the on-call oxygen company was to set up this veteran's home oxygen the same day. She made sure the patient was discharged to return home in time that the oxygen company would meet him at his house.

Ms. Koren had taken care of this veteran and took the care and the time to make sure he was in fact getting the care that he needed. This is just one example of her outstanding care, respect and dedication that she does on a daily basis. She is a leader in patient care in the Urgent Care Center and a wonderful model for nursing. Ms. Koren upholds the care and concerns of patients and is always willing to go the extra mile.

Congratulations to Amy for also being our second recipient of the multiple nomination pin with 10 nominations.