St. Cloud VA Healthcare System Director Announces His Retirement

(KNSI) — The Director of the St. Cloud VA Healthcare System has announced his retirement.

According to a statement, Brent Thelen said, “After over 20 years in VA, several years in private sector manufacturing and almost ten years in the U.S. Air Force it’s time to place my family first.”

Thelen is a U.S. Air Force Veteran, serving as a Forward Satellite/Digital Communication Technician and Non-Commissioned Officer from May 1983 to August 1992.

Thelen has been with the St. Cloud VA since September 2019. During his tenure, Thelen provided leadership and strategic guidance to a healthcare system with 388 multidisciplinary beds providing treatment in psychiatry, general medicine and extended care. He is also credited with being “focused on posturing the St. Cloud VA for change, establishing a Lean Management System to empower employees to focus on continuous improvement, oriented on an overall goal of ensuring high reliability in the safe delivery of health care.”

Thelen was also at the helm throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. “When I arrived here in September 2019, I knew we wanted to continue to progress on the organization’s high reliability journey. I had no idea that a pandemic was around the corner and that it would consume the next three years of our lives, both at work and at home. However, through our team’s hard work and dedication, we’ve continued to deliver excellent care to our Veterans in the face of a pandemic and have made impressive strides on our high reliability journey and the St. Cloud Management System,” he said.

Thelen’s retirement is effective September 29th. An acting director has yet to be named.

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