It was 1997, and Steve, who was 53 at the time had already lived the kind of life most people only dream about—he’d built and sold multiple businesses, spent 25 years on the road producing art and music festivals, and returned home to Sonoma ready for a new chapter with his wife Holly and their two school-aged children.
He had just taken a year off when everything changed.
It started during a committee meeting his wife hosted at their home for the Vintage Festival. Steve walked out and said, “I need help,” and fell to the floor. Help came quickly. He was rushed to Sonoma Valley Hospital, where he met Dr. Robbie Cohen, then head of the Emergency Department.
Steve remembers it vividly. “They rolled me into the ER, hooked me up to the EKG, and I asked what was going on. Dr. Cohen leaned down and said, ‘You’re having a heart attack. Stick with me—don’t you go anywhere.’ He was calm, compassionate, and absolutely brilliant.”
That night, a dedicated team stabilized Steve and got him transferred for advanced care. He pulled through. “Dr. Cohen pulled me out of the soup,” he says.
In the 30 years since, Steve has returned to Sonoma Valley Hospital more than once—and not just for himself. “Three years ago, my wife Holly fell and needed a hip replacement—she had it done right here. And in 2023, I had another cardiac episode. Once again, the hospital pulled me through.”
One of those episodes could have been his last. “The last heart attack I had, a doctor told me I was lucky—I might’ve had another 30 minutes if I hadn’t made it to the hospital. I had 96% blockage in one artery. Time is everything.”
He believes having a hospital nearby is not just about convenience—it’s about survival. “For cardiac events, car accidents—whatever it is—the ambulance can only do so much. You need to get stabilized. The hospital is part of the safety net of this community. Like a fire hydrant, you don’t think about it until you need it. But when you do, it better work.”
Steve and Holly’s connection to Sonoma runs deep. Fifty years ago, they were living in Berkeley when a weekend wine-tasting trip brought them to Sonoma—and changed their lives.
“We saw a house we loved, made an offer, went home and told our neighbor, and he offered to buy our place in Berkeley. We moved in a matter of days. It was meant to be.”
They raised their children here, and in the years since, three of their granddaughters have been born at Sonoma Valley Hospital. Steve even served on a committee that helped decide whether to upgrade the hospital to meet seismic safety standards. “I’m delighted we kept it. Three granddaughters came out of that hospital—my wife’s had a procedure there—and I’ve come out of there a few times myself.”
For Steve, the hospital hasn’t just saved his life—it has given him time.
After that first heart attack, Steve wrote to the people he hadn’t finished with—those he loved, those who shaped his life, and those he wanted to thank for being in his life—to tell them he was a different man because they were in his life.
Fifteen years later, he spoke to an old friend—a band manager—he hadn’t seen in years. That friend told him he still had the letter Steve sent. It had been pinned to his bulletin board for all that time. “He told me he looked at those words every day—and they helped him through some really hard times.”
That’s the power of time. The time Steve gained because the hospital was close. The time to say what matters. To connect, to love, to live fully.
“I’ve been here for the hospital,” Steve says, “and the hospital has been here for me.”
Steve’s story reminds us that Sonoma Valley Hospital doesn’t just save lives—it gives people the time to live them.
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To donate or learn more about how you can help, please contact: Leslie Antonelli Petersen at
lpetersen@sonomavalleyhospital.org or 707-738-5108.