VA appoints interim chief for region

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The Department of Veterans Affairs has named an interim director for its VA Northern Indiana Health Care System, which operates a medical center in Fort Wayne.

Brent Thelen has replaced Daniel Hendee, who left the regional system this month after two years as director to head the VA Medical Center in Wilmington, Del.

Thelen, 48, most recently was associate director of the VA Medical Center in Detroit. He has worked for VA for nine years, including stints at facilities in Phoenix and Saginaw, Mich.

Thelen, a native of Lansing, Mich., served in the Air Force from 1983 to 1992 and worked in support of communications equipment in Iraq during Operations Desert Shielf and Desert Storm in the early 1990s.

He made his first public appearance for the regional VA system Monday, accepting a check for $5,100 from employees of Raytheon Systems Co. It was the fifth straight year that workers at the local Raytheon plant, which designs military communications systems, have donated money for patient care at the VA Medical Center at Lake Avenue and Randallia Drive.

The regional VA system also has a medical center in Marion and community-based clinics in South Bend, Goshen, Peru and Muncie. It employs 1,400 people, including 628 in Fort Wayne.

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