Margaretville Hospital Announces General Surgery Next Month

MARGARETVILLE — Margaretville Hospital Announced a significant improvement coming next month. General surgery will start April 1. These will be office-based services on the hospital campus. This will be the start of re-establishing a service that has not been available in Margaretville for many years. There will be two physicians providing the service with each provider being onsite once a month to offer services in the Palen Building. Both pre-op and post-op services will be available as well as limited office-based procedures. Any patient in need of invasive surgery will be to receive that service at HealthAlliance Hospital in Kingston.

Margaretville Hospital Executive Director Michael Hochman said that Dr. James Feeney, a trauma surgeon, would be one of the providers. He is the medical director for Trauma for Health Alliance Hospital in Kingston.  He is a board-certified surgeon, member of the American College of Surgeons, with a number of other accolades.

“A big win for us locally,” said Hochman.

He will be joined by a second provider, Dr.Galina Glinik Board Certified in Surgery and Surgical Critical Care and well-recognized in her field who provides services in Ulster County.

Hochman said that he was “very excited” to be able to reestablish the service for patients.

He said that the hospital has used feedback from patients to change care and “provide the greatest amount of services close to home, locally.” He added that the hospital wanted to “leverage the benefits” of being part of the WMC Network. This allows for many patients to receive a high level of service without leaving their hometown.

Bringing this service and other services back to the community will be a significant improvement for patient experience, with exact details being released as service enhancements continue to unfold. 

He added that the hospital is looking at Hospital Based Services, including emergency room volume and cases, hoping to keep more patients in Margaretville rather than having to transfer to secondary facilities. This includes understanding the “service needs in the community and the resources required to meet those needs.” By combing through data, trends can be established, investments can be made and more patients can be kept closer to home.”

The hope is that the hospital will be able to treat more ailments at the Margaretville Hospital.