By Frank DeLoache

Salisbury Post

After presiding over two years of explosive growth at the W.G. “Bill” Hefner VA Medical Center, Director Donald F. Moore has taken a job as director of a VA hospital in Phoenix.

Dr. Sidney R. Steinberg, chief of staff under Moore, has been named the interim director, according to Public Affairs Officer Carol Waters.

Officials began interviewing candidates to succeed Moore even before he left.

Moore told the Hefner VA staff in September that he was leaving, and his last official day was Nov. 11, the Veteran’s Day holiday.

Moore was greatly liked by the staff at the Salisbury center since he arrived in June 2004.

The Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix and the Hefner VA are similar size facilities, but Waters said the move gives Moore the chance to live closer to family living in the West.

Moore and his wife, Bonnie, have four children.

Moore was associate director of the VA Salt Lake City Health Care System when he got the top job in Salisbury. He replaced Timothy May, who left in October 2003.

Moore and Steinberg have presided over a surge in the number of patients and programs at the Hefner VA.

The number of veteran patients has more than doubled, from 29,000 in 2001 to 60,000 as of September, Waters said.

In October, officials broke ground on a larger satellite clinic in Charlotte, which is scheduled to open in early 2008, Waters said.

VA officials also are looking for space for a clinic in Hickory, which they hope to open in a year, Waters said.

In early 2005, Moore told a Post reporter that several major building renovations and expansions are complete, under way or on the drawing board. But adapting the 50-year-old campus and its aging structures to modern medical technology, new disciplines and rising numbers of female patients hasn’t been easy.

Waters said the staff at the Hefner VA is moving forward with new programs and the challenges of treating a growing number of patients. She said the center’s search for a new director is ahead of schedule.

Steinberg was out of town Monday and not available for comment.

A Pennsylvania native, Moore received his bachelor of science degree in pharmacy from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science, completed a post-graduate traineeship in clinical pharmacy at the University of Southern California and earned a master of business administration degree from National University in San Diego, Calif.

Moore has national managed care certification at the mastery level and has served two terms as chairman of the board of trustees for the Intermountain Organ Donor Services.