The FDA has just approved use of a device that will help people suffering from heart failure.

Strong Memorial Hospital is the only medical center in Upstate New York offering the life saving surgery.

Dwight Hubbard of Rochester believes he’s alive today because of this heart pump.

"Obviously it kept me alive," he said. "I would have missed things like my two grandsons got married this year."

Hubbard has been living with the device for the last two years.

He received the pump prior to FDA approval as part of a clinical research study at the University of Rochester.

The device is called HeartMate 3.

It’s a left ventricular assist device, or L-VAD, designed to treat people with advanced congestive heart failure.

There are other pumps on the market, but this one allows some of the sickest patients to be eligible for surgery.

According to Strong transplant surgeon Dr. Igor Gosev, the heart pump is a new-and-improved version.

"We think that this can really improve quality of life for many patients that previously were ineligible for this type of therapy because they were ineligible for transplant," Gosev said.

The heart pump weighs just seven ounces, less than similar devices.

Gosev adds that recovery time is quicker, too.