Gov. Joe Manchin spoke of the spirit of the people of the Mountain State at the dedication of the new heart catheterization lab at Williamson Memorial Hospital.

The Cardiac Cath Center represents an investment in the healthcare services provided by WMH of approximately $2 million. Procedures performed most commonly in the new Cardiac Cath Center include nuclear stress testing, cardiac catheterization, echography, echocardiography of the heart, and carotid ultrasound of the neck. The new catheterization lab at WMH is located on the first floor and replaced a mobile unit.

Dr. Ashok K. Patnaik serves as the medical director of the catheterization laboratory. Dr. Patnaik joined the hospital’s medical staff ten years ago after completing a cardiology fellowship at Saint Vincent’s Hospital-Our Lady of Mercy University Medical Center in New York.

“We have some bad statistics,” Dr. Patnaik said. “We have some of the highest BMI (body mass index) and cholesterol numbers in the country. We needed local service for initial imaging.”

Manchin said during the recent mine disaster at Upper Big Branch, the national media repeatedly asked him to describe the type of people who worked doing jobs as difficult as coal mining.

“I didn’t want the families of those miners to fall prey to the media, I wanted to tell our story,” Manchin said. “So I told them if they would walk up any hollow and knock on a door, they would find a friendly face, if you are hungry they’ll feed you, if your car is broke down, they’ll fix it for you, and if you are lost, they will give you directions and probably get in their car and tell you to follow them and take you where you’re going.”

The governor said the future focus of health care needs to be preventative care.

“If we spent half of the time and money we spend on health care on preventative care, we would have better quality of life,” the governor said. “We need to make sure our children get a healthy start. We need to teach them to take care of themselves.”