VIP at the Cath Lab grand opening

Today we ate a VERY expensive lunch because the woodworker was a VIP.  Although the lunch was good, it was not worth the amount we paid for it.  Back in March he went to his doctor to complain of some health problems he was having.  The doctor sent him straight to the ICU that evening and scheduled him to visit the cath lab early the next morning.  He came out of that with some shiny new stents.  How does that make him a VIP?  Well, the local hospital has been working for about five years to build a state of the art cath lab and attract the right doctor to run it.  Their dreams came to fruition just a couple of days before Woodworker's visit back in March, so he got to be one of the first people to try out the new place.

Today was the official grand opening.  We had seen an article in the paper saying the open house would be from 4-6 pm, but then we got a special VIP invitation in the mail, inviting us to attend the VIP open house from 12:30-2.  When woodworker was in the hospital, a neighbor came to visit him, then ended up a week later getting a stent of his own, so we all went to the open house together today.  They showed us a couple of little videos and had a few speakers before officially cutting the ribbon. 

 That is the good doctor third from the left in the dark suit.

 A nice large screen TV for your viewing pleasure...if you enjoy watching the arteries of your own heart

We noticed the invitation included a luncheon, so we had fun debating about what food it might include since the new doctor, an 'interventional cardiologist', is an ardent vegan who desires all his patients to also become vegan.  We wondered what impact he might have on the luncheon menu.  He seemed mostly pleased with it.  There were no bacon wrapped hamburgers in sight.  Lunch included veggie trays, fruit trays, bread with artichoke dip, tiny chicken and ham salad sandwiches and shrimp.  I guess it came close to his standards.  We sat down to eat with doctors, hospital big wigs, donors, community movers and shakers and heart patients.  Lovely as it was, I do not recommend it as a way to get a 'free' lunch.