Above photo: Dr. Judith Magloczki
MARGARETVILLE — Margaretville Hospital Executive Director Michael Hochman, DHA, announced a significant series of improvements at the Hospital’s primary care, meeting one of the major requests of local residents.
“The investments we’re making on the primary care side have been the staffing component,” he said. This includes a new LPN Daniel Goodell, two nurse practitioners, Karen Bedell and Erin Black, and Dr. Judith Magloczki.
Hochman said that what made the most sense to him was to “build the team.”
This allows for the clinical team to work inside the existing physical environment. They can then take their lived experience and work collaboratively to develop a vision for what the future of space should be. By seeking the input of the staff they become stakeholders in the practice and are invested in its future.
Once this occurs the Hospital will move into “phase two,” of their primary care plan. Hochman says this phase is when we bring all the stake holders together discuss opportunities for improvement, what is currently working well and how we establish a physical environment that is conducive to collaborative team based care. The discussion will include what are common equipment needs, Technology based opportunities, and general feedback. This will allow the Hospital to “finalize a design for that primary care space and work to implement” a space that “meets the needs of the community and a solid working environment for the staff.”
Hochman said that this was a collaborative effort between Margaretville Hospital and Westchester Medical Center Health Network. Since joining the facility in late 2024, Hochman said that he spent his first four months “listening to the community,” then building and implementing a plan based on that feed back to deliver results to the community.
The most common feedback from the community is to expand primary care and to bring in a primary care physician into the practice. Through doing this Hochman believes it will allow for an expansion of other services to provide a “continuum of care” between major services at the Hospital.
He said that WMC is a “very large network” with a lot of resources that “ can be leverage to help us meet the needs of the local community” and eliminate gaps in care. Some are tech and equipment, while others are “human capital needs.” Filling the latter need requires someone who shares the vision to improve care for patients and the community.
Dr. Magloczki is board certified for family medicine and has spent considerable time working in rural environments.
“She has an understanding of what rural healthcare looks like,” including a personal history in Delaware County.
When the Hospital and Dr. Magloczki spoke, such ideas “aligned,” including the future of healthcare in Delaware County.
Hochman said that such efforts bring him great joy, and described bringing in a primary care physician as a “major win.” He said that it led to a “sense of satisfaction that is hard to describe.” He added that recent investment into the physical structure of the building will have a major impact for Margaretville, Arkville, and surrounding towns.
The Hospital is “here for the long-term,” he said.
Dr. Magloczki will start June 1, with a number of events in the meantime. On March 18 from 3-6pm there will be a meet-and-greet, including a number of the Hospital’s departments open to the public. There will be a workshop about respiratory care, the lab team will be on site, the physical therapy, cardiology, and radiology teams will be present as well as Wound Care, Infusion, and Endo staff.. The primary care division and specialty services will also be there. There will be community activities, including blood pressure screenings.