Get to Know Your Hospital Board Members - Steve Finch

By Matthew Avitabile

MARGARETVILLE — Steve Finch has been on the Margaretville Hospital Board since 2021 after a significant period of interest in the hospital and its operations. Finch said that he was working part-time and wanted to get more involved and spoke to then-Board President Arnie Schwartz and “throw in my two cents.”

Finch is “one of the very fortunate few” who were born in the original Margaretville Hospital and was raised and lived his entire life in Halcottsville and went K-12 at Roxbury before joining the RCS school board at 21.

“That was quite an education,” he said. The experience on the school board allowed him a chance to want to be on local boards and get more involved civically.

He raised two children here and worked a family business out of high school between lumber, Brookside Hardware, and has been involved with the fire service since 14.

Being in the fire department was his “true passion” and he became fire chief at 21 and was chief at Halcottsville Fire Department for 26 years. He became significantly involved in the Delaware County Fire Advisory Board. The Advisory Board helped advocate for creating a 9-1-1 system in the county and he sat on the county 911 committee and helped to bring 9-1-1 to the area. He became the county’s first 911 director, causing him to leave the family business. After almost 10 years as the 9-1-1 director and working with local communications companies, Steve joined Margaretville Telephone Company as the plant manager.

“The 911 job was a wonderful job,” he said. The commute to Sidney was “not desirable.”

He retired full-time in 2019 right before COVID and is still the President of the Halcottsville Fire Department and is a consultant at MTC.

Finch had a significant concern in wanting to keep the hospital open. A hospital closing would have been “devastating,” he said. “I’ve always only lived here and we need the hospital.”

This was an opportunity to use his “passion for the local community” and experience to aid the hospital.

The last four years have seen a significant improvement, including recent promises of increased primary care. The board members have contributed substantially to its improvement.

“If you’re going to talk the talk, you have to walk the walk,” he said.

Finch is especially involved with emergency services in the Town of Middletown, including a strong desire to keep the ambulance service going that serves Margaretville and Fleischmanns.

“It was vitally important to keep the ambulance service open, to keep it staffed, to keep it in the community,” he added. This happens at a time when there is difficulty gettting enough volunteers for local emergency services.

Finch said that he cared about primary care and he is “very happy” that Health Alliance of the Hudson Valley and Westchester Medical Center is bringing in additional staffing for the primary care office.

The board member credited the administrator in helping bring a local focus. Michael Hochman is local and it “hugely important to have someone who understands the local community, understand the local challenges, understand what the hospital needs,” he said.

“That’s been a really positive move at the hospital,” Finch said.

Finch said that the hospital is looking to improve local services and to improve lab services once again.

WMC is working to increase their local knowledge and assist in local health care, Finch said.

His largest struggle has been to increase focus on “local healthcare.”

“We’re making headway there,” he said. This includes having an excellent board. “The board is really a cohesive group with the same mission in mind: keeping the hospital going and making it thrive.”

As an advisory board, the group has a responsibility to be “vocal” and be a “squeaky wheel” for the community.