Board Members - Bio
CAROL O’BEIRNE
Established the Delaware County Bed & Breakfast organization in 1984
As Director of the Erpf Center = Completed the restoration and rebuilding of the Round Barn in Halcottsville funded by the New York State OPRHP. (my father volunteered as the Clerk of thw Works to complete it.)Shortly after that was completed the Erpf Center became a program of The Catskill Center and at that time I sought and was awarded funding for a National grant to create a three- year residency for Jay Ungar and Molly Mason titled Composers in Residence for the Catskill region. 1990's.
I also was elected to the Delhi College board of Trustees for a 7 year term.
It really was a very active time
DIANA J. MASON
PhD, RN, FAAN, FACN(Hon.), FADLN,
is Senior Policy Service Professor at the Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement, George Washington University School of Nursing; and Professor Emerita at Hunter College, where she held the Rudin Endowed Chair and founded the
Center for Health, Media & Policy. She is the Programme Director for the International Council of Nurses’ Global Nursing Leadership Institute, a past President of the American Academy of Nursing, and former editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Nursing. Dr. Mason serves as faculty for the Betty Irene Moore Fellowship for Nurse Leaders and Innovators, where she works with Fellows on strategic communications. She has produced and hosted radio programs on health and health policy since 1985 and currently hosts HealthCetera in the Catskills on WIOX Radio. She served on the
National Advisory Committee for Kaiser Health News from its inception in 2009 to 2024. Dr. Mason is the lead editor of the book, Policy and Politics in Nursing and Health Care, now in its 8 th Edition; and was the only nurse to be a regular contributor on policy for JAMA Health Forum from 2010 to 2023. She is the principal investigator on Woodhull Study Revisited, a 2017 replication of the 1997 Woodhull Study on Nurses and the Media published in 2018 in the Journal of Nursing Scholarship and an additional analysis of journalists’ experiences with using nurses as sources in health news stories, published in the American Journal of Nursing. She is Chair of the National Advisory Board for the
Rush Center Health and Social Care Integration; founder, former chair of the board, and now board member of the Catskills Addiction Coalition; and secretary on the board of directors for the Primary Care Development Corporation, the country’s only Community Development Financial Institution dedicated solely to building primary care capacity in the United States. She leads an initiative to build primary care capacity in the Catskills Region of New York State; and is on the board of directors of Margaretville Hospital, a critical access hospital that is part of the Health Alliance of the Hudson
Valley/WMCHealth Network. She was the only nurse serving on the board of directors for Public Health Solutions for four years and the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s Committee on Integrating Social Care into the Delivery of Health Care. Dr. Mason is the recipient of numerous awards for policy, leadership, dissemination of science, writing, education, public health, media and advocacy, including the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Health Policy by the New York Academy of Medicine. the Archon Award for Leadership from Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honorary Society, an inaugural Fellow in the Academy of Diversity Leaders in Nursing, and Honorary Fellowship in the Australian College of Nursing. Dr. Mason received a BSN from West Virginia University, MSN from St. Louis University, and PhD from New York University; and holds an honorary Doctor of Science degree from West Virginia University and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Long Island University.
ELISABETH (LIBBY) MARIGLIANO
PhD, MSN, RN, PMHNP-BC
Libby Marigliano is the Director of the Health and Wellness Center at SUNY Oneonta. She is a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner board certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) who has experience caring for children, adolescents, and college students. Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Rhode Island College, a Master of Science in Nursing and a PhD in Rural Health Nursing, both from Binghamton University. Libby has lived in the Northern Catskills since 2004.
ARNIE SCHWARTZ
Arnie Schwartz has devoted his entire professional life to education and counseling. He began his career as a shop teacher
in New Jersey before teaching for the Department of Defense in Japan. After earning his master’s degree in school counseling, he transitioned from the shop classroom to the guidance office, where he spent the next 35 years helping young people navigate emotional challenges and make thoughtful career choices. Issues related to substance abuse and personal development became especially meaningful areas of focus for him.
When Arnie returned to the United States, he continued his counseling work. The 197s marked a period of
consciousness‐raising for both men and women, and Arnie used his skills to organize and facilitate men’s groups. He also served as a co‐facilitator in a domestic violence program for men who had been abusive or violent, helping them confront and change destructive behaviors.
In retirement, Arnie co‐founded the Catskill Addiction Coalition—now known as Catskill Pathways to Addiction—and has
remained deeply involved in community service. He has served on numerous boards, including the Roxbury Arts Group, the Community Service Board, WIOX Community Radio Catskills, the Margaretville Hospital Board, and Catskill Folk Connection.
For fourteen years, Arnie has hosted Talk of the Town on WIOX, interviewing guests on both local and national issues. He lives in Denver, New York, with his wife, Carol.
LINDA WEBB VARIAN
LCSW-R Retired
Clinical Social Work
Seeing folks in-patient (VA hospital) and out-patient (psychotherapy)
Treated folks with PTSD from the Vietnam War, Collapse of the twin towers.
Worked with duel diagnosis, addiction.
Personal experience with addiction.
JAINE E. FAIRBAIRN
4 th generation Catskills Native. BA Anthropology from SUNY New Paltz. I knit, therefore I am. I am the mother of four people. I began my journey helping people experiencing substance use disorders by chance.
My position as case manager for the Dispute Resolution Center contracted through Catholic Charities of Del, Ots, Scho counties expanded to include a seat on the Chenango County Drug Treatment Court in 2019. While on the panel, I convinced the Judge to allow me to facilitate a recovery oriented “Interactive Journaling” program for participants as an alternative to the typical mandatory 12-Step meetings. It was successful and I realized that I could actually help people without all of the letters after my name that I was convinced I needed. In 2021 I was hired as the Wellness Coordinator for grant funded Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Program at Margaretville Hospital. I am currently a care coordinator at MHA Columbia-Greene serving people with serious mental illness diagnoses.