San Luis Obispo hospital unveils new state-of-the-art cardiac care lab

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – French Hospital Medical Center (FHMC) held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday afternoon to celebrate the opening of a new heart catheterization (cath) lab.

"It's a great day for the entire cardiac program at French," said Sue Andersen, French Hospital Medical Center President and CEO. "It really is. We've been waiting for this grand opening."

According to Dignity Health, the new facility will enhance imaging capabilities, which will enable physicians to provide more precise diagnoses.

"It's used for a couple of things," said Andersen. "We do a lot of electrophysiology work in the cath lab, which helps people with atrial fib. We also do a lot of work in the cath lab with stents for people that have heart issues that come in with heart issues. It's amazing the work that they do now. People can be in and out the same day almost and take care of their heart problems."

The state-of-the-art will also allow doctors to perform complex procedures with greater accuracy and efficiency, which the hospital says will lead to better outcomes for patients.

"Our physicians, our cardiac team, they save lives every single day," said Andersen. "It's truly amazing and it's amazing how advanced and how far this equipment has gone to really pinpoint things for the physicians that enable them to do their job so much easier. This absolutely enhances what we're able to do for the community and really continues to allow us to take care of our community to save more lives every single day. This is equipment that tertiary centers have and we have it right here on the Central Coast."

The new cath lab joins a similar one located directly across the hallway the first opened up two years ago.

"This is more upgraded even than the one that we installed in 2023," said Andersen. "Technology changes all the time. And we're trying to keep up with it, but it's really great. Like the physicians have communicated it, the precision on this new equipment is just incredible and really makes their job a lot easier."

Funding for the $2.4 million lab came from a variety of sources, including community donations.