Cardiologist dedicated to improving heart care in southern Alberta

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on November 21, 2024.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

Dr. Sayed Zielke is on a mission to improve cardiac care in southern Alberta.

Zielke is the Cardiac Sciences Physician Lead for Alberta Health Services South Zone and since coming to Lethbridge in 2013, she’s been committed to not only improving service but lowering the mortality rate from heart disease in southern Alberta.

While heart disease is the second leading cause of death in Canada, it’s 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.

In addition, the death rate in southern Alberta for diseases of the circulatory system is 35.2 per cent.

“We often kind of forget how important heart health is. Very sadly, cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 reason for death in southern Alberta and it causes 35 per cent of the deaths,” said Zielke in a recent phone interview.

“That’s devastating. As a cardiologist, it’s really hard to see that,” said Zielke, noting the statistics breaks her heart.

“It’s very frustrating,” the doctor added.

“We have a higher risk compared to the rest of the province. . . .and traditionally, we haven’t had access to the same services as the rest of the province,” the doctor added.

When Zielke came to Lethbridge, she was the first cardiologist in the South Zone and now there are a total of six “but we are still under-serviced” with patients who still have to travel to seek care in the Calgary zone “and they don’t have access to all of the diagnostic and interventional services we would have access to in Calgary or Edmonton.”

About 1,300 local patients have to travel to Calgary to get interventional cardiology support and treatment,” said Zielke.

Patients being admitted to hospital here who need the procedures that are available in Calgary tend to wait longer than if they were in Calgary,” added the doctor.

These patients will be taken to Calgary and returned by ambulance which takes ambulances out of circulation for emergencies here, she added.

“It’s not ideal at all. So it’s been my whole mission – this is the hill I’m trying to die on – to try to improve the care for our community by providing access to interventional cardiology, more resources, hiring more cardiologists and basically developing the best, most excellent cardiac services” for the entire South Zone, not just Lethbridge, added the doctor.

“And just try to elevate the game. We’ve got a long way to go,” said Zielke, who is dedicating her career to her mission.

The new cardiac catherization lab in Lethbridge is “life and death important,” she said.

“It will save lives, it will provide access to care closer to home. It’s absolutely needed, it’s absolutely critical,” said the doctor.

People who have the higher risk factor profile include those with diabetes, obesity, hypertension and who smoke.

“We also have a scattered population” with more rural residents in the South Zone which becomes a barrier in providing adequate care and accessing care, said the doctor.

“It’s not like Calgary where people who live around Foothills Hospital get to have immediate access.”

“That tends to feed into the barriers of that.”

The South Zone also has chronic shortages of health care professionals who provide the care people may need as well as programs, she said.

The doctor “100 per cent” sees light at the end of the tunnel for South Zone residents with internal medicine doctors advocating for a cardiac catheterization lab before Zielke arrived here.

“At one point in time I was told we’d have a cath lab when Hell freezes over. Well, guess what, Hell has frozen over. We’re getting a cath lab. We didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer, we’ve been persistent and the government has been supportive in announcing the funding for this. But this didn’t just happen last week or the week before – this is years of advocacy and pleading for support and help for the program.”

With the needs assessment approved, the project is moving to the planning and design stage.

“We are in the planning stage which is just incredible to see. From my perspective as a cardiologist, every step kind of is a heart muscle that I need to save so it couldn’t happen fast enough.”

Every day that goes by before the lab is built is a potential life lost, said Zielke.

Another positive is community support. The Cardiac Sciences Advisory Cabinet and AHS South Zone leadership has partnered with the CRH Foundation to raise money during its Bringing Hearts Home campaign which is a 30-month campaign to raise $30 million by the end of 2027.

“It’s so important,” she said.

A heart sciences gala will be staged Feb. 1 with at the Agri-Food Hub and Trade Centre with a guest talk by former NHLer Lanny McDonald and entertainment by Trevor Panczak.

Fundraising has several purposes:

• Upgrade existing cardiac care facilities, equipment and services as hospitals across the South Zone.

• Secure the purchase of new technology to put us on par with other regions of Alberta.

• Improve access to cardiac care for all southern Albertans.

• Prioritize excellence in heart health by focusing on prevention, detection, and treatment.

• Recruit and nurture leading cardiology talent.

Tickets start at $275.

Southern Alberta is serviced by regional hospitals here and in Medicine hat along with 14 other acute care/community health care centres in rural communities. None is equipped to provide the cutting edge treatment needed to save lives.

Zielke, along with the CRHF and Cardiac Sciences Advisory Cabinet imagine “the creation of a Southern Alberta Cardiac Centre of Excellence, ready to provide and deliver the same excellent standards of cardiac healthcare that other Albertans receive. We imagine giving patients with acute or ongoing heart conditions in rural communities the ability to get help closer to home. Providing doctors and nurses the right equipment to better to support patients. Enabling our healthcare system to react faster and better in critical situations, and ultimately, save more lives,” says a case of support for the campaign.

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