Carol Conroy beamed as doctors and nurses at the new Ed Dardanell Heart and Vascular Center in Monroeville autographed her Shumsky Heart Pillow.

Mrs. Conroy, 77, of Rankin, was the first patient to be released from the center, a cardiothoracic intensive care unit that opened early this month at the Forbes Regional campus of West Penn Allegheny Health System.

"This is better than a hotel," she said. "My room is beautiful and spacious. I have a private bathroom. Everything is comfortable. It feels like home."

Mrs. Conroy then joked: "My anesthesiologist was very excited. He told me he had been waiting for me for two years"

Dr. Mark A. Taylor was referring to the two years it took to develop the center. He serves as division chief of cardiothoracic anesthesia and chief and vice chair of that department.

"My comment was in reference to the fact that I am a cardiac anesthesiologist and have been at Forbes for just short of two years," he said. "I have not done a cardiac case since May 2006 and have been instrumental in the development of this program."

Mrs. Conroy went to a family doctor for a stress test, and the following day her surgeon called indicating there were some problems.

She could have gone to West Penn in Bloomfield or to Forbes and chose the Dardanell center because "they have the same team at both places. Monroeville is closer and that makes a difference."

"Everything came out great," she added. "This is one of the nicest places I have ever been -- for a hospital."

Mrs. Conroy is looking forward to a full recovery. "I have a healthy heart."

As she was mentioning plans to have the entire family at her home for Easter dinner, husband Patrick, 79, walked through the doorway joking, "I hope Easter is better than Thanksgiving when she stuffed the wrong end of the turkey!"

The spacious room easily accommodated the gathering family. Hospital spokeswoman Kara Kessler said everything [in the Dardanell center] was designed with families in mind. Having your family with you helps in the healing."

The Dardanell center offers state-of-the-art cardiovascular and cardiothoracic care to residents of eastern Allegheny and Westmoreland counties.

It is part of the $24 million Redefining Community Medicine growth and expansion project at Forbes. Other projects include expansion of the Gerald McGinnis Emergency Department and the addition of a women's and infants' care center.

The initiative marks the largest construction project in Forbes' history, involving the renovation of 80,000 square feet.

"We are redefining community medicine by bringing to Forbes Regional high-tech procedures and services normally available only at hospitals in the city," said Edward N. Klaman, president and CEO of West Penn Hospital. "This investment reflects our commitment to Forbes Regional's continuing growth and vitality."

The new center is named for Edward L. Dardanell, who donated $1 million toward the construction of an advanced heart and vascular center at Forbes. Mr. Dardanell, a newspaper publisher, was instrumental in establishing Forbes in the east suburbs nearly 30 years ago.

State Sen. Sean Logan, D-Monroeville, helped bring $2 million in state funds to the project.

The Dardanell Center includes two large rooms for open-heart surgery and other advanced surgical procedures; cardiac procedure rooms for catheterizations, angioplasty and stents; state-of-the-art technology that enables endovascular grafting and other specialized vascular procedures; and an eight-bed cardiothoracic intensive care unit adjacent to the operating and cardiac procedure areas.

Darlette Tice, vice president of operations and chief nurse executive, stressed the importance of availability of cardiac services in the east suburbs.

"Every year, we send 500 patients out for caths," said Ms. Tice, 49, of Murrysville. "Now they will be able to stay at Forbes and get the care they need.

"It is exciting that emergency patients with heart attacks will now be able to go directly to the cath lab for angioplasty or a stent. It used to be that we would stabilize you, pack you up and transfer you.

"Now you just go upstairs and that leads to better outcomes."

"Monroeville has a large elderly population. They don't like to travel, but they do want the excellent medical care that is available in the city."

Dr. Michael Culig, 57, of Monroeville, is the chief of cardiac surgery at West Penn Hospital and Forbes. He pointed out that:

"Cardiac surgery has had a lot of changes. We are fortunate to develop Forbes into a model for continuous change in clinical arena modality, and are uniquely positioned to implement changes in care as the technology progresses."

Forbes expects to add the equivalent of 60 full-time jobs to meet the center's staffing needs.

It has been projected that 245 cardiac, vascular and thoracic surgeries and 1,200 catheterization lab procedures will be done there each year.

The Ed Dardanell Heart and Vascular Center is part of the Gerald McGinnis Cardiovascular Institute of the West Penn Allegheny Health System.