Altoona's VA hospital opens call center for veterans

ALTOONA -- The James E. Van Vandt Veterans Affairs Medical Center will launch a new call center Thursday morning for veterans to call and talk to a live operator rather than a series of recordings. The medical center's staff said, up until the launch, vets would call to schedule an appointment or talk to a

ALTOONA -- The James E. Van Vandt Veterans Affairs Medical Center will launch a new call center Thursday morning for veterans to call and talk to a live operator rather than a series of recordings.

The medical center's staff said, up until the launch, vets would call to schedule an appointment or talk to a doctor but couldn't get through, or they'd get frustrated and hang up.

"So they were kind of getting lost in the shuffle," said Laura Smerbeck who now supervises the call center

Smerbeck said the new system is designed to provide better access and communication for the roughly 25,000 veterans they treat.

"They were getting a lot of options when they called they were getting transferred a lot of places. They'd get confused by all the press this button to go here so we want to make it easier for them to get in and get scheduled and not have to worry about which button to press and talking to fifty different people," Smerbeck said.

VA staff said veterans would often have questions that a recording on a machine couldn't answer, and having a live person on the other line allows them to address all of their needs in one call.

"I think it makes it more personal for them. They're talking to a person and they can relate them better not have to worry about a machine and leaving a message and worrying about if it's going to get answered," Smerbeck said.

The call center will officially open and veterans can begin to call starting at 8 a.m. Thursday.

The toll-free number is (877) 626-2500.

When veterans call, they will hear a brief recording listing their options, and one of them is the call center.

"There'll be an option to talk to the pharmacy, an option to talk to the schedulers and an option to talk to a nurse and they'll be sent to a nurse triage line that can take care of clinical kind of issues or if they have questions," Smerbeck said.

The U.S. Department of Affairs now requires all of its medical centers to implement call centers like Altoona's before the end of the year, Andrea Young, the VA hospital's public affairs officer, said.

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