A trio of big donations have been made towards the creation of a new cardiac centre in Lethbridge. (Photo: Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Lethbridge businesses donate $350,000 to new cardiac centre

Apr 15, 2025 | 2:15 PM

The Chinook Regional Hospital Foundation (CRHF) is celebrating a trio of major donations.

A group of local businesses have given a combined $350,000 to the Bringing Hearts Home Campaign. It is working towards building the new Southern Alberta Cardiac Centre of Excellence at Chinook Regional Hospital.

The donations include $150,000 from Gas King and $100,000 each from KCL Cattle Co. and Lethbridge Toyota.

Celia Shimek of KCL Cattle Co. says, that when they first heard about this initiative, their family had just experienced first-hand the lack of cardiac services in the region.

“Like many other families, our grandmother couldn’t access the cardiac care and resources in Lethbridge that were needed to save her life. The cardiac center will save many lives and keep our loved ones close to home. We are so happy to be able to contribute to this initiative,” says Shimek.

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Lethbridge Toyota CEO Andrea Ulmer shared a similar sentiment, saying that she is grateful that her father lived in Calgary when he experienced heart issues and not Lethbridge as specialized care is more readily available. However, she feels that Lethbridge deserves top-tier services closer to home.

Brent Morris of Gas King adds that he was proud to have been one of the early donors to this program and to have participated in the feasibility study.

The CRHF says the cardiac centre will elevate the standard of care at the hospitals in both Lethbridge and Medicine Hat.

“A new catheterization lab, electrophysiology lab, two echocardiography labs, cardiac MRI and CT scanners and other essential equipment, and many new cardiac ICU beds will take pressure off of existing ICU wards. There is a healthy dose of prevention programming embedded in the Cardiac Services plan as well,” says the CRHF.

Cardiac health issues are the number one killer in southern Alberta. The CRHF says mortality rates in the region are actually 26.6 per cent higher than in the rest of the province.

The fundraising initiative will continue for the next 22 months and it is now about one-third of its goal.

Government support has continued to advance through the necessary stages, from placing the project into the detailed pricing of Functional Planning and Design in October 2024, to important Government of Alberta budget announcements in February 2025.

The goal is to have the cardiac centre operational by 2027/28.

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