Shilpa Stocker (left) donates to the Southern Alberta Cardiac Centre of Excllence. Crystal Elliot from the Chinook Regional Hospital Foundation (centre) and Dr. Sayeh Ziekle (right) show their appreciation. (Photo: Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

$500,000 donation to Lethbridge cardiac centre

Feb 25, 2025 | 12:49 PM

A local family has made a major donation to help improve cardiac services in southern Alberta.

Champak Morzaria, Mayuri Modgill and Shilpa Stocker have given $500,000 to help build the Southern Alberta Cardiac Centre of Excellence at Chinook Regional Hospital.

Stocker’s father has had cardiac health challenges. While she says he received great care at the hospital in Lethbridge, she knows that many are not able to get the care they need locally.

“When you start to think about the fact that, if somebody had serious cardiac issues, they have to be transported to Calgary, which is what, two, two-and-a-half hours away, it’s actually quite disturbing because in a growing city like this, we should be able to receive that care here,” says Stocker.

Dr. Sayeh Zielke, a cardiac specialist and spearhead of the movement to build the cardiac centre, says she feels “incredibly grateful and humbled” by the generosity of the donors.

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She says cardiac disease is the leading cause of death in southern Alberta, while in many other jurisdictions, it is number two. The difference, Zielke explains, is that the South Health Zone is not equipped with specialized cardiac services.

“The heart is the most important organ in the body, I’ll have you know, as a very biased cardiologist… Any form of services that we’re able to provide, whether that’s educational, interventional, just all-around seamless care close to home, it makes a difference,” says Zielke.

Dr. David Stewart says the section of the fifth floor of Chinook Regional Hospital where Tuesday’s donation event took place is not much more than a space for cabinets and other office supplies at the moment.

Once the Southern Alberta Cardiac Centre of Excellence is complete, however, it will be a state-of-the-art facility where people can get all sorts of heart-related healthcare.

“In the future, we’re going to have the ability, if someone has a heart attack, to keep them in Lethbridge, to be able to do a test called an angiogram or angioplasty where we can go in and open up a blood vessel that’s clogged up. We no longer have to send them to Calgary,” says Stewart.

He continues, “We know that time is heart, so the longer it takes, the more your heart gets compromised.”

Stewart says it is currently unknown when the cardiac centre will open as there is a lot of infrastructure planning that needs to be done first.

He likened the donation from Stocker and her family to that of a heart – it is a symbol of kindness.

The budget for the cardiac centre is around $30 million, and Stewart says this gets them a lot closer to that goal.

The Bringing Hearts Home Gala on February 1, 2025, raised $644,000, while Pattison Media helped to gather another $473,804 at the 30th Annual Care from the Heart Day Radio-A-Thon on February 13.

Donations can be made on the website for the Chinook Regional Hospital Foundation.

READ MORE: $473K raised at Radio-a-Thon for Chinook Regional Hospital Foundation

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