Bringing Hearts Home gala finds support for cardiac centre campaign

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on February 5, 2025.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

Lethbridge cardiologist Dr. Sayeh Zielke is dedicated to Bringing Hearts Home.
Zielke, who has tirelessly led efforts to convince the Alberta government to build a cardiac care centre in Lethbridge, was given a standing ovation Saturday night as she ascended the podium of what was called the largest fundraising event in Lethbridge’s history.
The Bringing Hearts Home gala at the Agri-food Hub and Trade Centre attracted about 550 people to support efforts to raise $30 million in a 30-month campaign to support the construction of the lab which is in the planning phase.
The gala raised a whopping $644,000, which exceeded all expectations, said Chinook Regional Hospital Foundation CEO Crystal Elliott in a statement Monday.
The Cardiac Sciences Advisory Cabinet and AHS South Zone leadership has partnered with the CRH Foundation on the campaign to raise the money by the end of 2027 for the Southern Alberta Cardiac Centre of Excellence.
Zielke, who came to Lethbridge in 2013 with her husband Dale after she spent some time periodically as a locum physician at Chinook Regional Hospital, is the city’s lone cardiologist and has fought passionately to see cardiac care improved here.
As she told the audience on Saturday night, heart disease is the leading cause in southern Alberta with death from all cardiac issues being 26.6 per cent higher here than in the rest of the province. There is also a 15.5-per-cent higher risk factor of heart attack in southern Alberta compared to the rest of the province. The death rate in southern Alberta caused by diseases of the circulatory system is 35.2 per cent.
Zielke, who was given the key to the city in December by mayor Blaine Hyggen — an individual she said has kept the flame alive for the lab due to his efforts to help her lobby the province – became the first permanent cardiologist in the South Zone when she established her practice here.
She said Hyggen, who is a co-chair of the Cardiac Sciences Advisory Cabinet, is “a human defibrillator” for the project.
The who’s-who of Lethbridge in the crowd, which included MP Rachael Thomas, Lethbridge East MLA Nathan Neudorf, former premier Jason Kenney and city councillors Rajko Dodic (also a Cardiac Sciences Advisory Cabinet member) and Jenn Schmidt-Rempel, heard personal stories of cardiac event survivors from Master of Ceremonies Tony Deys and guest speaker Lanny McDonald, who tearfully told of their own heart emergencies and the life-saving efforts of medical practitioners who kept them alive so they could once again be with their families.
About 1,300 local patients have to travel to Calgary to get interventional cardiology support and treatment. Zielke wants to change that and with the support of the provincial government, she is going to see that happen.
Zielke is both an advocate for cardiac care but also serves in many roles including physician lead for cardiac sciences in Alberta Health Services South Zone and as chair for the Southern Alberta Cardiac Sciences Advisory Cabinet.
“Southern Alberta is in desperate need of improved cardiac services. . . it’s just not acceptable that our mortality rate is 26.6 per cent higher in this region compared to the rest of the province,” she said. “We literally have the worst outcomes in the province,” said Zielke. This is more alarming in the context that the population has a 15 per cent risk factor profile than the rest of Alberta.”
The path forward, going from worst to best, she said, started about 20 years ago.
“Tonight we’re standing on the shoulder of giants that Dr. Ernie Johnson and Dr. Eric Wilde, who were advocating for increased cardiology services two decades ago. Their tireless effort laid the groundwork for where we are today. They worked hard to recruit me and I’m glad they did,” said Zielke.
The doctor detailed the efforts made to lobby AHS to support the project which finally began to take shape with the intervention of government minister Dr. Lyle Oberg.
She recalled how he was told Lethbridge would get a lab “when hell froze over,” and drew laughs from the audience when she said that it must be experiencing a cold snap right now.
She also detailed how doctors have watched helplessly as some patients have died, recalling how one person asked her for a popsicle before being intubated, a request Zielke couldn’t fulfill. The patient was in such dire condition STARS couldn’t fly her to Calgary and never got her popsicle because she died in hospital here before she could get life-saving treatment. Zielke vowed to the audience she won’t have her own popsicle until the lab is finished.
Hyggen, during his remarks before Zielke took the stage, the gala “demonstrates the unwavering support southern Alberta has for this essential medical care.”
He said most people know someone with heart disease, has lost a loved one or is concerned about their cardiac health and “it’s crucial that we have the same level of services in southern Alberta as in other cities like Edmonton and Calgary.”
He called Zielke “a passionate advocate for cardiac care, her patients, their families and of course, our entire community.” She was the first permanent cardiologist to serve southern Alberta when she established her practice in southern Alberta, he said.
Since then she “has dedicated herself to improving the accessibility and quality of cardiac care and services in our region. Her commitment to addressing the critical problems of southern Albertans having the highest cardiovascular death rate in the province has been unwavering and her passionate vision to save and improve lives is both inspiring and contagious.”
Deys recalled how he suddenly felt ill during a recreational hockey game On Dec. 15, 2019 and collapsed later in the change room. The efforts of seven people brought him back to life three times and he was revived twice more in hospital before being flown by air ambulance to Calgary. There it was discovered he had 95 per cent blockage in his left heart artery.
McDonald detailed how he collapsed at the Calgary airport on a return trip from Toronto almost exactly one year ago. Two nurses and a police officer, who spent more than 11 minutes resuscitating him, brought him back to life which has allowed him to spend more time with his wife Ardell of 49 years, their children and grandchildren. McDonald underwent a quadruple bypass and spent two weeks in hospital.
The $30 million that the campaign wants to raise has several purposes. Along with funding from the Alberta government, it will enable the upgrading or renovation of existing cardiac care facilities, equipment and services at hospitals in the South Zone and secure the purchase of new technology to put the zone on par with other regions.
The money will also improve access to cardiac care for all southern Albertans and prioritize excellence in heart health by focusing on prevention, detection and treatment.
It will be put toward achieving four goals which include more cardiac diagnostic support, more critical care and inpatient beds, improved interventional cardiac services and increase primary and secondary prevention.
Jason Nixon, Minister of Seniors, Community Social Services, who is also the minister responsible for continuing care, told the audience that Lethbridge punches above its weight class and talked about the staggering amount of work done by Zielke and others to get the lab going.
He reiterated the province is building the cath lab, saying “we’re gong to cut that ribbon.”

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