At Tucson Medical Center, world-class care comes not just from new technology or expanded services — it comes from the heart of the people who deliver it. This week, the TMC Cath Lab team came together to celebrate and reflect on 2024 — and the lives they have changed — at a special luncheon in the Marshall Conference Center.

This year, the Cath Lab team saw a record number of patients while maintaining some of the highest patient satisfaction scores across the hospital. Their secret? A commitment to constant innovation, exceptional expertise and above all, compassion.

“I'm so impressed with the incredible expertise in the Cath Lab at TMC,” said Mimi Coomler, CEO of Tucson Medical Center. “Perhaps what's most impressive is how many patients leave and talk about the compassion they felt. Patients trust the care they receive here — and it's all because of the tremendous effort of this team.”

The Cath Lab expanded both its facilities and its capabilities in the last several years, adding leading-edge technology to better serve the community’s growing needs. With new advancements in cardiac imaging, structural heart interventions and electrophysiology, the team has been able to diagnose and treat heart conditions with even greater precision and less invasive procedures.

Over the past year, the Cath Lab made an extraordinary impact on the community, directly affecting more than 7,300 patients’ lives. While it is easy to measure success in numbers, it is harder, but far more important, to measure it in moments. Moments when a nurse quietly holds a patient’s hand before a procedure. When a technician notices anxiety in their patient’s eyes and stays by their side. When a family, fearful and hopeful all at once, gets the news they have been praying for.

These are the moments that defined 2024 — and they are why this year’s celebration is about so much more than expansion, technology, or even record-setting growth.

One recent patient shared, “When I was being wheeled into the operating room, the nurse was aware of my anxiety and held my hand the entire time. I really appreciate their care and concern.”

 

This deep sense of compassion is a defining characteristic of the TMC Cath Lab. Even as the team performed more procedures than ever before, the quality of care remained unwavering — and deeply personal.

“This Cath Lab crew has done so much work to accomplish something that didn’t even seem possible several years ago”, said Ericka Lujan, Manager of the TMC Cath Lab. “They worked tirelessly, took extra shifts, and gave up time with their families—because that’s what they do. I am honored to support them.”

For longtime team members, the evolution of the Cath Lab has been inspiring to witness.

“I have been around for nearly 20 years, and it has been exciting to see the growth — with the staff, their skills, their training, and especially their teamwork,” shared Lujan.

As TMC celebrates the milestones of 2024, the Cath Lab looks ahead to a future filled with even more possibilities—grounded in the same values: compassion, expertise and a relentless commitment to the community’s heart health.

Thank you to the TMC Cath Lab team for making this an unforgettable year—for all the right reasons.