Lebanon VA Medical Center

08/04/2025

Pharmacogenomics (PGx) looks at your genes to reveal how your body reacts to specific medications. It allows your provider to tailor your medications for maximum effect and minimum side effects. Join our PGx team on Tuesday August 5, 2025 at 10 a.m. ET to learn how a one-time blood test empowers you to actively participate in your personalized treatment journey.

Join Microsoft Teams at https://bit.ly/3WfGcwx
Meeting ID: 265 373 202 374
Passcode: nG9Vbm

Join by phone at 1-872-701-0185
Phone conference ID: 398 270 202 #

Questions or trouble joining? Send an email to VISN4PharmacogenomicsTeam@va.gov or call 206-310-6332.

08/04/2025

07/31/2025

You can now schedule your next VA appointment quickly and easily using the VA Health Chat app! Our schedulers in the VISN 4 Clinical Contact Center are now available to help you from 8 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week including federal holidays. Download the app or launch the chat at mobile.va.gov/app/va-health-chat.

07/31/2025

Are you a Veteran who has recently moved? Then this short video is for you.

07/28/2025

Many WWII Veterans have a quiet but steady pride about their service. SGT Clark Hitchcock is one such Veteran. The western Pennsylvania native enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps in 1943 before graduating from high school. He served as a Flight Engineer aboard the famous B-29 Flying Fortress in the Pacific theatre. His unit was stationed in Guam where they normally flew out of the northwest airfield after its construction. He vividly remembers the Dutch freighter that delivered his unit to the island and crawling down a single rope to get into a smaller Navy vessel to transfer to the shore. The officers told them to be sure to time their descent down the rope to correspond with the rising and falling of the waves. One unfortunate soldier was crushed between the boats. They slept in pup-tents that first night. He remembers bulldozer operators with M1 Garands strapped to the cage of the heavy equipment as they were building the runways and he’ll never forget that every mission required multiple hours of flying over the open waters of the Pacific Ocean. He said the Navy chow was good on the island and their PX was better than the ones he had used stateside in the Army. The locals welcomed the Americans and were happy to have them there.

Once he returned to the United States, Clark worked for a company building steel electric furnaces before he decided to use his GI bill. He attended college at the University of Pittsburgh and got his degree in Elementary Education. He was a schoolteacher in the mid-state for the rest of his career. His hobbies included training and riding Tennessee Walkers.

But he takes his greatest pride in his family and their service to the nation. He has a son who retired from the Navy and he has grandchildren in the Coast Guard, Air Force and Army. That’s quite a tradition of selfless service you started Sergeant. Thank you and congratulations on living to be a centenarian.

07/25/2025

In the competitive market place, businesses can give themselves an edge by hiring Veterans. Consider just a few of the traits they bring to the table:
Proven leadership and leadership readiness
Mission-focused approach to work
Experience working in diverse teams and organizations
Adaptable and immediate contributors
Strong work ethics
Strong performance under pressure
Creative problem-solving
Self-starter
Integrity

Today is National Hire a Veteran Day! National Hire a Veteran Day is an observance founded to remind employers to consider hiring Veterans to fill their open positions. Veterans add leadership skills, dedication, strength, courage, and countless other positive traits to the workforce.

07/18/2025

Clinical Pastoral Education is an interfaith method of theological education through which a student exercises and learns pastoral skills. It provides a learning situation to develop awareness of the theological and psycho-social concerns of persons in crisis. We seek to celebrate, refine and to enhance your already natural, innate, and honed gifts for spiritual care. This will be done through structured weekly educational elements, peer group engagement, and supervision and instructions from experts in the field.

Upcoming Classes:

Lebanon VAHCS Now Accepting Applications
Residency CPE Unit, October 6, 2025- September25, 2026
Class and clinical time will be 40 hours per week.
8 a.m. - 4 p.m., Monday - Friday with weekend rotation.
Levels 1A,1B, 2A and 2B training is provided.

Applications:
Applications need to be submitted by August 8, 2025. There is no application due date; students are encouraged to apply approximately six months before the program start date. Please
contact Joel Risser vhalebcpeadmin@va.gov 717-272-6621 ext 5740

No Tuition:
CPE Interns, upon acceptance, must complete a background check and other federal requirements to officially enter the program. They must also provide medical documentation of all immunizations required in this healthcare setting, including a current TB test.

Other Information:
Students will be required to purchase textbooks for this program.

07/10/2025

Starting Monday, July 14, 2025, construction will begin on the Loop Road and Parking Lot Improvement Project across campus. While this work will bring great long-term improvements, we understand it may cause temporary inconvenience - and truly appreciate your patience and flexibility during this time.

What’s Happening - Phase 1

- The loop road will be blocked between the flag circle and the Building 1 parking lot.
- The road connecting Building 37 to the Building 1 parking lot will be closed.
- The last row of parking in the Building 1 parking lot will be closed.
- Buildings 3 (daycare), 4, 5, 28, 34, and 36 will have limited access via single lane (west end, between South Entrance and Building 1 lot).

Parking and Access Details

- If coming from Lincoln Drive, access the Building 1 lot by going clockwise around the top.
- If heading to Building 17 from State Drive, you will need to go counter-clockwise during this phase.
- Good news! The main entrance/exit to the Building 1 lot stays open during this phase.
- A walkway connecting the Building 1 lot to Buildings 34-37 will remain available - though its location may shift as work progresses.

During Construction

- Some areas of loop road will be single lane only.
- Expect delays, use caution, and follow posted signage and flaggers for safe navigation.
- Please consider carpooling or allowing extra time for travel.

We know changes like these can be disruptive, but you cooperation helps us make meaningful upgrades to our campus.

For any questions, please call the Engineering Office at 717-272-6621 ext. 6050.

07/06/2025

Former WWII Army Air Corps and later Air Force Veteran and VA employee, Edward Davis Jr. received a letter of commendation from VA Lebanon Healthcare System Director, Jeffrey Beiler recently for his 100th birthday. Mr. Davis worked as a crew chief on B-24 Liberator Bombers even though he was only a Private First Class because of the shortage of crew chiefs. He said, “I was a PFC doing a SSG’s job, getting CPL pay! We kept the pilots from screwing up.” He remembers having to chip ice out of a bucket to get water to shave. “Everything was frozen,” he said.
In the VA, Mr. Davis worked as an Occupational Therapist and later became a Mental Health Therapist. He served his fellow Veterans in six VA facilities until he landed at Lebanon which he called, “a very special place.”

Thank you for helping to make our healthcare system a special place to work and to receive care. Happy Birthday sir!

07/04/2025

We remember and celebrate the bold American patriots who earned our independence and all those who have preserved it!

07/02/2025

Please be considerate of your Veteran neighbors as you enjoy your Fourth of July festivities. The loud bangs that fireworks cause can be a particular concern for combat Veterans especially those with PTSD.

06/30/2025

Marian Long, who will turn 102 in August, asked her parents and siblings a simple question one evening at dinner in 1944 --“anyone want to know what I did today?” Knowing she would not meet with parental approval, the recent high school graduate wanted to get ahead of the silence and clinking silverware, so she blurted out, “I enlisted in the Army!”

Fast forward through boot camp in Iowa and AIT in Texas, the adventurous teen studied nursing with 500 other young women where she says the doctors taught them eight hours a day. If a future nurse didn’t pass her exams, she had to retake the course in night classes. Marian graduated in the top 10% of her class but it wasn’t easy. It was hard, very hard; so was treating some of the wounded or burned patients the retired St. Joseph’s nurse said, “That’s where we learned to be brave. You had to put on a brave face with some of those poor boys, their injuries were so catastrophic.”

Now, Marian thinks everyone should experience life in the military. “It’s good training for great living. You grow in basic training. You learn to share and how to do things you don’t want to do. You appreciate things more.”

After the war, she returned to South-Central Pennsylvania and met her husband, a Veteran of the Normandy invasion. In addition to raising their own children, they served as foster parents to 69 babies or toddlers until they were adopted. When her own children graduated from high school, she returned to nursing. She wanted to help those who needed help.

In commenting about her medical services at the VA, the seasoned professional had this to say, “I’ve had perfect service. Not one thing has been done improperly. The girls are superb and the docs are good. I have nothing negative to report…They’ve been very good to me.”

And Marian, when you read this, know what a huge difference you made in so many lives – Veterans, children and your fellow citizens! Your legacy will long endure.