Pattison Media's Harley Myhovich (left) and Chad Benson (right) volunteering for the 16th Annual Care from the Heart Day Radio-A-Thon, Feb. 12, 2026. (Image Credit: Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

$300K goal at Care for the Heart Day Radio-A-Thon to support cardiac centre

Feb 12, 2026 | 9:27 AM

Thursday, Feb. 12, is the 16th Annual Care from the Heart Day Radio-A-Thon in Lethbridge.

Radio hosts from six local stations are at Chinook Regional Hospital, aiming to raise $300,000 for the Bringing Hearts Home campaign.

Among them are four on-air personalities from WILD 95.5 FM and All Hits B93.3 FM – Harley Myhovich, Chad Benson, Nevin Sereda, and Cody Kells.

Myhovich says he enjoys getting to be part of the fundraiser every year.

“I believe this is the sixth one I’ve volunteered at, and it’s a wonderful event. It’s a thing that actually raises money for the hospital in our community, and the money stays here,” says Myhovich.

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A big part of the Radio-A-Thon is being able to share the personal stories of hospital staff, patients, and others who have been directly affected by local healthcare services.

Myhovich believes this is extremely important, as it helps people to understand just how crucial it is to support local healthcare and upgrades to facilities like Chinook Regional Hospital.

“All the people here are like, we’ve been doing this for like 30 years, and we’ve raised millions of dollars, and it helps out,” he says. “We have these people who say it helps out and these people who say it helps out, and people have actual first-hand experience of being like, ‘This worked. This actually worked. Our money actually worked for something.'”

Bringing Hearts Home is the initiative to raise $30 million to create a new Cardiac Centre of Excellence at the hospital in Lethbridge. Upon completion, it would include:

• Two cardiac catheterization labs
• Two electrophysiology labs
• Expanded cardiac diagnostics, including echo, stress testing, and Holter monitoring
• Dedicated cardiac CT and MRI imaging capacity
• A modernized ICU and redeveloped Coronary Care Unit with enhanced patient safety and infection-control design

Crystal Elliott, CEO of the Chinook Regional Hospital Foundation, says this will make a big difference for the approximately 300,000 people who live south of Calgary.

She adds that she is grateful to everyone who has or will share their stories of cardiac care.

“These are the stories of why we need to shorten the road – it’s the people who are experiencing those challenges, their families, their caregivers who can’t be there with them when they have to travel to receive care, so it’s actually incredibly important for people to share their stories about why this matters,” says Elliott.

This is why I, David Opinko, shared my experiences with cardiac care earlier this week and how it has never been close to home.

READ MORE: Two heart surgeries later, why I believe Lethbridge’s cardiac centre will make a difference

So far, Bringing Hearts Home has raised approximately $26 million, or about 86 per cent of the goal. Organizers still need to garner about $4 million in donations by this time next year.

Elliott says contributions of any size are greatly appreciated, as are those who volunteer their time to support fundraising events.

The 16th Annual Care from the Heart Day Radio-a-Thon continues until 6:00 p.m. on Feb. 12.

Donations can be made by calling 403-388-6001, visiting the CRHF office in the hospital’s atrium, or by visiting crhfoundation.ca