POCATELLO — After 40 years working in the health and human service industry in a variety of organizational structures, including for-profit operations, nonprofit companies, academia and public service entities, Stephen Weeg, currently the executive director of Health West, is retiring.

    “I turned 66 last November and thought, it’s time,” Weeg said on Wednesday. “I’m still pretty healthy, and my wife is pretty healthy and we want to have some fun while we can enjoy it.”

    His immediate plans include spending some time traveling and “playing,” with no clocks to watch, no appointments to keep, no deadlines to meet. There will be a trip to the Oregon coast this summer, and time in Europe this fall.

    “We’re going to Sicily and Italy,” Weeg said, adding that his wife’s heritage is found on the island and southern part of Italy while he can trace his ancestry to the northern part of the country.

    He also plans to spend time with his children, a son who lives in Southern Utah and a daughter in Alaska. He’s looking forward to partaking of his hobbies at his whim.

    “I am looking forward, when I see there is four inches of snow on the ground, to going skiing,” he said. “I’m looking forward to riding my bike at 8 in the morning when it’s cool outside instead of trying to do it when it’s 95 degrees outside.”

    But while Weeg will be retiring from Health West, he’s not completely walking away from an industry for which he has so much dedication. Weeg will remain a board member of the Portneuf Health Care Foundation and he will continue to be a board member of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

    “I will keep doing that until everyone has access to affordable health care,” Weeg said. “I think that’s important. It’s a mark of how we are as a society.”

    It’s clear that providing quality health care for all, regardless of capacity to pay, remains a passion for Weeg, even on the eve of his retirement on July 27.

    “Why should you live sick and die younger because of your income level, or because you work for a company that doesn’t provide insurance?” he asked. “Why are we the only economically developed country in the world that has that kind of disparity?”

    He’s proud of the part he’s played toward that end in Southeast Idaho, where he’s spent his entire career, and especially during the past eight years at the helm of Health West.

    “Over 9,000 people a year use our clinics and half of those have no insurance,” Weeg said. “It’s been nice to be able to provide quality services to all who need it.”

    But, he’s now prepared to turn the responsibility for all of that over to someone else, a person Weeg said is coming to the Gate City from Maine. He will begin transitioning responsibility for Health West to its new executive director next week.

    Also slated for next week is a party, an opportunity for all those who want to wish Weeg well in his retirement to do just that. It will be hosted from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on July 19 at the Portneuf Valley Brewing, located at 615 S. First Ave., in Pocatello.

    Weeg is proud of his accomplishments, proud of a career spent entirely in Southeast Idaho and that has had such impact. But there’s one thing regarding his career that he’s definitely not ignorant of, the people who were so vital to his success.

    “I’ve had a great run, but I never did any of it alone,” Weeg said. “No one ever succeeds over time without people helping you and you helping people. That’s been the most enjoyable part, having some pretty amazing people wherever I have been.”