The Van Zandt VA Medical Center recently began operating under its fifth leadership appointment in less than a year — and it remains without a permanent director.

Late last February, then-permanent Director William Mills departed for a “detail” assignment as interim director of the larger Memphis VA Medical Center.

A that time, longtime Van Zandt executive Charles Becker succeeded Mills as acting director here.

In late March, Joseph Sharon came from the VA Medical Center in Wilkes Barre to become acting director at Van Zandt.

In April, Mills told his regional director in Pittsburgh he would not be returning to Van Zandt.

In late July, Judy Hayman became acting director here.

In late November, Becker took over again.

Late last month, Charles Thilges, currently chief financial officer for the region, became interim director at Van Zandt.

And on Feb. 3, Mills officially retired after 43 years with the VA, according to Van Zandt spokeswoman Andrea Young.

“An ongoing search for a permanent director continues,” Young said.

The VA appoints interim and acting directors to provide temporary oversight and stability for hospitals that don’t have permanent directors, Young said.

Jay DeNofrio, a Van Zandt management employee with whistleblower cases against the facility — and specifically against Mills — finds the leadership shuffle objectionable.

“The revolving door of acting directors at the Altoona VA ultimately hurts veterans,” DeNofrio said. “Without solid and stable leadership, any organization loses direction, and important things start falling through the cracks.”

DeNofrio suggested that the leadership flux may have helped lead to Van Zandt’s decline from the highest performance level — five stars — in the VA’s Strategic Analytics for Improvement and Learning program, beginning with the first quarter of fiscal 2016, when it went to four stars.

It went to three after that, and has remained there.

It didn’t help that Mills’ personnel costs remained part of the Van Zandt budget through 2016 and into 2017, DeNofrio said.

A Feb. 9 response from the VA to DeNofrio’s Freedom of Information Act request for Mills’ status actually lists him as still employed as Van Zandt director.

The minimum salary cost for high-level managers like Mills is $124,000, according to a table provided by DeNofrio.

The attachment of those costs to Van Zandt are especially unfortunate if they mean shorting “vital positions” like doctors or nurses, DeNofrio said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.