Cardiac doc Zielke is a local hero

By Lethbridge Herald on February 8, 2025.

LEAVE IT TO BEEBER

Al Beeber

Lethbridge Herald

Every community has its heroes and not all heroes wear capes. Some wear the uniforms of police officers, others are good Samaritans who stop to help others in crisis.

And yet others carry stethoscopes.

Lethbridge cardiologist Dr. Sayeh Zielke is one of those heroes. Zielke, who established her practice here in 2013 when she and husband Dale decided to make this city their home, is a true hero.

She has led the way to improve cardiac care in Lethbridge and southern Alberta so we as a community don’t have to travel – or be sent by air or ground ambulance – to Calgary for life-saving measures.

At Saturday’s Bringing Hearts Home gala in the Agri-Food Hub and Trade Centre, audience members who were affected – or know someone who has been affected – by cardiac issues was asked to stand up. The majority in the audience of 550 – who earlier had given Zielke a much-deserved standing ovation as she joined Mayor Blaine Hyggen at the podium – did just that.

And many surely shed a tear when the doctor told the story of a patient who wanted a popsicle, a request Zielke couldn’t fulfill before intubating that individual who died before getting life-saving care in Calgary because the person was too ill to travel, even by air ambulance.

Zielke told her audience she wouldn’t have a popsicle of her own until the promised catheterization lab is established here. And on Saturday night the Honourable Jason Nixon reiterated the UCP’s commitment to that project.

Zielke’s words resonated with all in the audience. Her passion could have been felt even outdoors in the subzero temperatures.

Sayeh Zielke, who has fought hard for Lethbridge with the support of Hyggen and so many others, is leading the way to improve cardiac care in southern Alberta where heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death.

The Cardiac Sciences Advisory Cabinet, in partnership with the Chinook Regional Hospital Foundation and the leadership of Alberta Health Services South Zone, are committed to raising $30 million in donations by 2027 to help upgrade or renovate existing cardiac care facilities, equipment and services at hospitals in the South Zone and secure the purchase of new technology to put this zone on par with other regions in the province. The money raised is also intended to improve access to cardiac care for all southern Albertans.

As audience members heard from emcee Tony Deys, that access is hugely important. Deys’ own story of his cardiac emergency and the efforts to save his life by dedicated EMS and hospital staff emphasizes the need for such access. Deys is alive thanks to a hockey pal who recognized that he was in trouble and those who resuscitated him five times at a hockey rink and the hospital before he was transferred to Calgary where it was discovered he had a 95 per cent blockage in an artery.

Hockey hero Lanny McDonald is alive today to enjoy time with his wife Ardell and their family because of the life-saving efforts at the Calgary airport last year after he suddenly collapsed. McDonald spent two weeks in hospital after a quadruple bypass and on Saturday told the gala crowd of the team effort that allowed him to be standing at the same podium where Zielke detailed the efforts to improve access to cardiac care in southern Alberta.

Zielke is no longer the lone cardiologist in Lethbridge – others are practicing and by the end of 2025 there will be more. And we have her efforts to thank for that because Zielke is leading the way to save lives of southern Alberta.

In December her friend the mayor presented the doctor with the key to the city, a much deserved honour for Zielke whose patients have the utmost admiration for her. I know this personally because one of my best friends is alive today thanks to her.

But the work is just beginning. While the gala raised $644,000 , there are still financial hurdles to overcome and more than $29 million yet needs to be seen so the efforts of Zielke and advisory cabinet can see established the Southern Alberta Cardiac Care of Excellence.

Just how important is this endeavour? Consider this: every year 1,300 patients are sent to Foothills Hospital in Calgary for treatment. The death rate in southern Alberta caused by diseases of the circulatory system is 35.2 per cent.

Death from all cardiac issues in southern Alberta is 26.6 per cent higher 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.

These are reasons why improved care is needed. That care could save your life or the lives of people you love.

The vision to raise that money is an ambitious one but anyone who heard Zielke speak on Saturday knows it’s one that will be fulfilled. She is on a mission for southern Alberta – for all of you – and that mission with support from all of us is going to succeed.

For all our sake, it needs to succeed.

Take a bow, Dr. Zielke. And keep fighting. You saw on Saturday how much support you have and that is only going to grow as the word spreads about your mission.

Thank you for making Lethbridge your home.