VA Medical Center to reopen 6 inpatient beds

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VA Northern Indiana Health Care System announced Friday afternoon it will begin the second phase of its process to resume inpatient care at its Fort Wayne medical center on Wednesday.

The system will reopen six inpatient beds "and begin integrating patients with more complex conditions," VA said in a news release.

Its 24 total beds will be reopened incrementally until all inpatient care is reinstated by the end of March.

"We will continue to use local community partners for the highest complexity patients," VA said.

The medical center temporarily suspended inpatient care in October for purposes of "improving our processes" and "bettering veteran care," a spokeswoman said at the time. Since then, VA has appointed a new director for the northern Indiana system.

VA officials also acknowledged it had vacancies in key medical and administrative positions.

The first phase of the resumption of care came in early December, when the Lake Avenue medical center restored chemotherapy infusions and blood transfusions.

"VANIHCS staff has received support and training to ensure our continued ability to maintain high quality care and services for the Veterans we are honored to serve," Friday's statement said.

For more on this story, see Saturday's print edition of The Journal Gazette or visit www.journalgazette.net after 3 a.m. Saturday.