ST. FRANCIS SEEKS APPROVAL OF LAB

St. Francis Medical Center has filed a certificate of need with the Missouri Health Department for a second cardiac catherization lab.

A spokeswoman in the Certificate of Need office in Jefferson City said the application was filed May 12. The new lab will cost $1.76 million.

Dale Rauh, director of The Heart Institute at St. Francis, said the second lab would allow the medical center to update equipment used in the diagnosis of heart ailments. The existing lab was installed in 1986.

"A cath lab provides the basic diagnostic tool for the cardiology department," Rauh said.

"With the rapid development of technology in this area, we are as much as three generations behind state-of-the art at this point," he said. "We are trying to upgrade with the new room. The existing room would serve as a back-up."

The Health Facilities Review Board, which reviews applications for large capital projects by medical facilities in the state, meets next on May 25. The St. Francis project is not on the agenda for that meeting. It may be scheduled for review at the committee's July meeting. Approval is needed to proceed.

Rauh said the estimated lifetime for equipment like that used in the cardiac catherization lab is seven years.

The cost of project is almost entirely for equipment. When the first lab was installed, the building was constructed with room for expansion. "We have a central control room," Rauh explained. "The right hand portion was developed into the present cath lab. The left hand side will be developed into the new lab."

Some renovation will be needed so the room will conform with the equipment.

Rauh said about 1,300 procedures were done last year at the lab. This year he anticipates the number to be 1,350 or 1,400.

Rauh said the lab is being used more since another heart surgeon has been added to the program. Additional cardiologists also are being recruited to Cape Girardeau.

A get-acquainted meeting is planned Friday with St. Francis officials and two new members of the Missouri Health Facilities Review Committee, Sen. Peter Kinder of Cape Girardeau and Jackie Hearndon of Sikeston. They both were appointed to the committee in March.