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JULIANNE WUThe veteran of 40 years in government service says a priority will be to reduce delays in delivering needed care to vets.
SEMINOLE - Smith Jenkins Jr. has been appointed director of the VA Medical Center at Bay Pines. He will assume his duties in mid-June.
Jenkins, 60, has been network director of VISN 18, the Southwest Health Care Network, managing VA medical facilities in Arizona, New Mexico and West Texas. VISN stands for Veterans Integrated Service Network.
In addition, since last January, Jenkins has been special assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C., as the head of CARES, which stands for Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services.
"We have been undertaking an assessment of our infrastructure and are doing some strategic planning, hoping to plan for the next 20 years," said Jenkins, reached last week in Washington.
He touched on the nationwide problems of VA facilities being unable to keep up with demands, especially in the area of veterans' primary care and specialty care.
Jenkins, who said he probably would be in the Bay Pines medical center the week of June 15, said one of his biggest priorities in Florida is "to try to get rid of the waiting list for veterans seeking care, especially when it comes to specialty care."
The Bay Pines facility is affiliated with six community-based outpatient clinics and a multispecialty clinic in Fort Myers. It covers an area from northern Pinellas County to southern Collier County and east including Highlands and Hardee counties.
Jenkins, who has more than 40 years in government service including four years as a hospital corpsman in the U.S. Navy, said he requested his new assignment. "I'll be glad to get back to the medical center, to where the patients are ... making sure they get the services they need and in a timely manner. My other job was much more administrative."
Jenkins, a native of Kentucky, has a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Kentucky and is a graduate of the Sloan School of Management's Greater Boston executive certificate program in business management.
He has worked as an associate director in four VA medical centers and also served as the director in the Brockton/West Roxbury VA Medical Center and the Boston VA Medical Center.
Jenkins and his wife, Mary, are the parents of two grown children.