Syracuse VA Medical Center director, Hayman, leaving for job in Montana

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced the appointment of Judy Hayman, director of the Syracuse VA Medical Center, as the new director of the VA Montana Healthcare System.

The Syracuse VA Medical Center anticipates Hayman will “transition to the new position in Montana sometime in June,” Robert McLean, public affairs officer for the Syracuse VA Medical Center, said in an email response to a BJNN inquiry.

Richard Salgueiro, associate medical center director of the Syracuse VA, will serve as interim director during the search for Hayman’s successor.

The VA announced Hayman’s appointment as the Syracuse VA Medical Center director in December 2017, after she had served as the acting director since April of that year.

Hayman has served in a variety of leadership positions at the Syracuse VA for nearly 13 years.

 “It has been my great honor and privilege to be part of the Syracuse VA family and I am grateful to have worked with so many professional and dedicated staff,” Hayman said in a Monday news release. “Syracuse is a unique place and I am very thankful for the many opportunities I have had here.”

Under Hayman’s leadership, the Syracuse VA has been “consistently recognized as one of the highest performing” medical centers in the VA system in the areas of “high quality” medical outcomes and patient satisfaction, the release stated.

The Syracuse VA Medical Center is a 189-bed, general-medical, and surgical-referral center. It includes a 16-bed acute care psychiatric unit, a 46-bed community living center, and a 21-bed spinal-cord injury/disorder center.

It’s a teaching facility affiliated with Upstate Medical University and operates community based outpatient clinics (CBOCs) in Massena, Watertown, Auburn, Rome, Oswego, Binghamton, and Tompkins/Cortland in Freeville. The locations serve 13 counties in Central New York.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com