Donor to cardiology lab unexpectedly became its first patient
A heartfelt gift became an investment in a healthier future for a Pebble Beach couple whose contribution helped build the state-of-the-art electrophysiology lab for Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula’s Tyler Heart Institute. Paul and Cassandra Hazen consider it some of the best money they’ve ever spent.
The Hazens donated to help create a new $3.1-million electrophysiology lab, which has advanced technology for procedures that focus on arrhythmia (irregular heartbeats), including atrial fibrillation (AFib).
It wasn’t their first contribution to Montage Health Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Montage Health, the hospital’s parent company. But it turned out to be more personal than any of their others: By coincidence, Hazen became the first patient on the day the lab opened in
May 2019.
"I didn’t realize I was going to be their first patient, but it came out well; and the new equipment enabled Dr. Fowler to do it in a much shorter period of time than he could have with the old equipment."
— Paul Hazen, donor and patient
Hazen, the former chairman and CEO of Wells Fargo & Company, had been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation 20 years earlier, while undergoing a routine treadmill test at UC San Francisco Medical Center.
“My brother had atrial fib. He could feel it significantly and couldn’t wait to try getting rid of it,” Hazen says. “But it wasn’t that way for me. I was one of those people who could never feel it, never even suspected I might have it until they found it during that treadmill test.”
In 2018, Hazen became one of the first local patients of Dr. Steven Fowler, an electrophysiology specialist recruited from New York University. Hazen knew that part of what drew Fowler to Community Hospital was a plan to build a new electrophysiology (EP) lab. When Fowler described the capabilities of the new technology, Hazen reached for his wallet to contribute to the fundraising.
Community Hospital’s state-of-the-art electrophysiology lab
To treat Hazen’s AFib, Fowler recommended ablation, which involves using radio frequency to generate heat to scar or destroy tissue in the heart that triggers or sustains an abnormal rhythm. Hazen’s procedure was scheduled before the new EP facility was online, but it was serendipitously postponed.
“Dr. Fowler’s wife gave birth right at that time, so we had to reschedule my ablation,” Hazen says. “And totally by coincidence, the new date turned out to be the very first day that the new equipment was ready for use.
“I didn’t realize I was going to be their first patient, but it came out well; and the new equipment enabled Dr. Fowler to do it in a much shorter period of time than he could have with the old equipment,” Hazen says.
Meanwhile, the Hazens are staying busy and active in their “retirement.” In 2001, Hazen left a 30-year career with Wells Fargo & Company and the couple retired to Pebble Beach.
“I’ve stepped down from most of the boards I used to be on, but we do a lot of investing, and we have a lot of businesses that we run,” he says. “I’m chairman of a technology company that invests in 28 software companies. Cassandra grows coffee in Kona, Hawaii, and she also has a 30-acre bed and breakfast (ranked among the top 100 resorts in the world by Fodor’s Travel). We have a clothing company in Santa Barbara and a hotel and restaurant in Yountville.
The Hazens’ most recent gift to Montage Health Foundation was in support of the COVID-19 emergency fund drive.
“Cassandra and I have been supporters of CHOMP for 10 to 15 years now, just because it’s worth supporting,” Hazen says. “It’s a great organization, so valuable to
all of us.”
Basics of catheter ablation
In a heart that is beating normally, electricity flows throughout the organ in a regular, measured pattern, coordinating its contractions.
Sometimes, the electrical flow gets blocked or travels the same pathways repeatedly, creating a sort of electrical “short circuit” that disturbs normal heart rhythm. Medicine often helps. In some cases, however, the most effective treatment is to destroy the heart tissue causing the short circuit, using a procedure called catheter ablation.
In catheter ablation, a small section of problem-causing tissue is made inactive, ending the abnormal heart rhythms, or arrhythmias. Ablation is a relatively non-invasive procedure that involves inserting a catheter, a narrow, flexible wire, into a blood vessel in the groin or neck and advancing the wire to the heart. The journey is navigated using images created by a fluoroscope, an X-ray-like machine that provides continuous, live images
of the catheter and the body.
Once the catheter reaches the heart, electrodes at its tip gather information and a variety of electrical measurements to pinpoint the location causing the arrhythmia. The cardiac arrhythmia specialist, an electrophysiologist, may sedate the patient and actually cause the arrhythmias that are the source of the problem to find the exact location.
Once the source is confirmed, energy is used to destroy that tissue, restoring a healthy heart rhythm. This energy may take the form of radio frequency energy, which cauterizes or burns the tissue, or intense cold, which freezes the tissue. Patients rarely report pain, more often describing what they feel as discomfort.
Catheter ablation is used for people whose arrhythmias can’t be controlled with lifestyle changes or medication. Some can’t or don’t wish to take antiarrhythmic medications and other drugs because of side effects that can interfere with their quality of life.
Catheter ablation is used to treat rapid heartbeats that begin in the upper chambers, or atria, of the heart, like atrial fibrillation, the most common rhythm disorder. It can also treat rhythm disorders that begin in the heart’s lower chambers, such as ventricular tachycardia, which can be life-threatening.
For patients at risk for sudden cardiac death, ablation is often used along with an implantable cardioverter device (ICD), which shocks the heart back into rhythm. The ablation decreases the frequency of abnormal heart rhythms, reducing the number of ICD shocks needed.
For many types of arrhythmias, catheter ablation is successful in 90–98 percent of cases, thus eliminating the need for open-heart surgery or long-term drug therapy.
Adapted and used with permission from the Heart Rhythm SocietySM, a leading resource on cardiac pacing and electrophysiology, hrsonline.org.
Learn more about Cardiac care at Tyler Heart Institute
Learn about the impacts of a gift to Montage Health Foundation.
