ALTOONA, Pa./JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (WTAJ) — Finding jobs for veterans is the main goal for the new hiring initiative developed by the James E. Van Zandt VA Medical Center in Altoona and Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown.
The two hospitals recently partnered together with the initiative to give veterans more employment and training opportunities.
Veterans can receive much more than just treatment for their physical health when they enter the system at the VA hospital.
The hospital said they work hard to care for all aspects of that veteran’s life, and providing employment opportunities is just one of the ways they support that.
“The unique thing about veterans affairs is that we don’t just supply healthcare we take care of veterans in every aspect of their life so a lot of times we see veterans come into our hospital and there there to talk to a social worker, their coming in to talk about bills, then they can come in and take part in a program that helps them get hired in the community,” says chief of stakeholder relations for the VA hospital, Shaun Shenk.
“There are a lot of skills and advancement opportunities here [at Conemaugh] and within my department of environmental services we have tech positions available that require certain skills, but if they don’t have them, we can train them. My department also is a great stepping stone, so they can easily advance and go to other departments,” said Lucas Migneault, Director of Environmental Services for Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center.
Jelden Arcilla is the Chief Nursing Officer at Conemaugh says, “we are in great need of nursing assistants so we’re offering a patients care assistant program that will basically pay you a stipend to learn and once you pass all of your competencies you have a job immediately and it’s a perfect way to get a foot in the door into healthcare.”
Tonya Spada-Dixon RDLDN, Director of Culinary & Nutrition for the hospital says they feed around 8,000 people a month, times that by 3 meals a day, and you’re looking at an average of 25,000 meals to feed patients at the hospital. She says, “it is so important to give back to our community, it is so important to help our veterans you know they served our country and this is our way of giving back to them.”
If you’re interested in learning more about the employment opportunities at Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center you can visit their website at Conemaugh.org/careers.
