BELLEVUE, Wash.—Overlake Medical Center in Bellevue today unveiled its new state-of-the-art David and Shelley Hovind Heart & Vascular Center to patients, with it being fully operational by August 5, 2013. The new 19,200-square-foot facility will bring Overlake’s cardiac and vascular services together in one location and will feature the most advanced cardiovascular equipment and technology available on the Eastside.

The facility will allow more real-time collaboration between physicians, facilitate consultation between physicians, patients and their families, and will improve the Eastside community’s access to cardiac care.

“For more than two decades we have offered the most comprehensive array of cardiac services on the Eastside and continue to be the only hospital that offers open heart surgery on the Eastside with nearly 40,000 patients receiving cardiac care at Overlake last year alone,” said Dr. Joseph Doucette, director of invasive cardiology at Overlake. “The opening of our new heart and vascular center is an important step forward and will help keep Overlake at the forefront of advanced cardiac care.”

Overlake’s top physicians worked closely with hospital leadership, architects and technical leads to ensure the new heart and vascular center would advance the hospital’s level of patient care and bring all testing and therapeutic services together in one location to improve physician collaboration.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and one person dies from cardiovascular disease every 40 seconds. Heart disease is most prevalent among men and women 65 and older, and on the Eastside this population is expected to increase by 30 percent over the next five years.

“The demand for advanced cardiovascular care on the Eastside is growing rapidly,” said Dr. Derek Rodrigues, an Overlake cardiologist. “The opening of this beautiful facility marks an important milestone for the advancement of cardiovascular care in our area.”

The new center is named the David and Shelley Hovind Heart & Vascular Center in recognition of the couple’s $1 million leadership gift. The Overlake Medical Center Foundation & Auxiliaries raised an additional $1.1 million for the new facility at the 2013 Bandage Ball, the Foundation’s annual fundraising gala and auction. To date, the Overlake Medical Center Foundation and Auxiliaries has received more than $4 million in philanthropic donations for the new center.