$100,000 Gift to French Hospital Supports the Beyond Health Campaign

SESLOC Federal Credit Union becomes a Beyond Health Business Partner

SAN LUIS OBISPO — French Hospital Medical Center (FHMC) announced a $100,000 gift for the Beyond Health campaign from SESLOC Federal Credit Union. This gift will support the hospital’s current $130 million expansion project – Your New French Hospital – which will add a new four-story patient care tower featuring single patient rooms to the existing hospital campus.

Recognizing a natural synergy between the two non-profit, community-focused organizations as well as the positive impacts of the project on local health care and economics, SESLOC was excited to support the Beyond Health campaign.

With this gift, SESLOC became one of the first members of FHMC’s recently established Beyond Health Business Partners program, joining local businesses like RRM Design Group, Promega Biosciences, and Collaboration Business Consulting. The Beyond Health Business Partners program provides local businesses the opportunity to invest in top-quality local health care while receiving unique health education benefits for Business Partner workforces.

“Access to high-quality health care is extremely important for our employees and our entire community,” says Geri LaChance, SESLOC President and CEO. “Hospital facilities updated with state-of-the-art technology provide greater opportunities for recruiting highly specialized physicians and medical teams, improving the landscape of local health care for the long-term. SESLOC wanted to be part of this significant transformation.”

SESLOC will be recognized for this gift with the naming of the Heritage Wall Display in the new Patient Care Tower lobby area. This display will commemorate the history of the hospital and health care in our community, an appropriate legacy from SESLOC, who celebrates 80 years of serving this community in 2022, and to French Hospital, celebrating its 75 years of service this year.

“We are exceedingly grateful for SESLOC’s support of the Beyond Health campaign and their dedication to the health and well-being of our community,” says Alan Iftiniuk, FHMC President and CEO.

With this gift, the hospital has $114 million committed to the $130 million project, with $100 million being invested by Dignity Health and the balance coming from private donors. To date, the Beyond Health campaign has raised more than $14 million, with fundraising efforts for the remaining $16 million underway. 

The FHMC Expansion project called “Your New French Hospital” will include:

• Enhanced and advanced technology and services
• The new Stan and Barbara Clark Neonatal Intensive Care Unit – a 16-bed
• unit with state-of-the-art, private family-oriented rooms
• An additional 10 Intensive Care Unit beds, bringing the total to 21- all private rooms
• 56 new private patient rooms, bringing the total licensed bed count to 180, making it the largest hospital in San Luis Obispo County.
• New front entrance, lobby, and dining area
• Swanson Family Chapel – a new interfaith chapel
• Harold Miossi Garden Terrace providing space for sensory stimulation, socializing, and outdoor activities
• A helistop helicopter landing pad for critical emergencies
• Expanded space for imaging, pharmacy, food service, and more

A four-story 85,000-square-foot patient care tower and a parking structure will be built to accommodate the growth, with construction on the parking area to start next year. The expansion is planned for completion in 2024.

In recent years, with the full-fledged support of our many benefactors, FHMC has established the renowned Copeland, Forbes and Rossi Cardiac Care Center, the innovative George Hoag Family Hybrid Surgical Suite, the Copeland Health Education Pavilion, the Stollmeyer Family Birthing Center, and the Oppenheimer Family Center for Emergency Medicine.

Since Dignity Health acquired French Hospital in 2004, more than $115 million (non-inclusive of the new tower project) has been invested in the hospital to transform and modernize the facility. French Hospital has also provided nearly $30 million in community benefits to support various non-profit community programs.

To learn more about Your New French Hospital or the Beyond Health Business Partners program, visit supportfrenchhospital.org/business-partners.

About French Hospital Medical Center is a state-of-the-art, 112-bed acute care hospital located in San Luis Obispo, CA. French’s Oppenheimer Family Center for Emergency Medicine is the area’s most advanced emergency services center. The modern facility is home to the Copeland, Forbes, and Rossi Cardiac Care Center, is the county’s premier cardiac center, providing the latest cardiac and imaging technology, and the Hearst Cancer Resource Center offering free education, resources and support to cancer patients and their families.

French Hospital Medical Center, together with Arroyo Grande Community Hospital in Arroyo Grande, CA, and Marian Regional Medical Center in Santa Maria, CA, make up Dignity Health Central Coast, a network of hospitals, physicians, and outpatient services, including physician offices, ambulatory surgery centers, technologically advanced laboratories, and imaging centers, and a full-service home health agency.