EDMONTON — The Alberta government unveiled its new cutting-edge $217-million heart centre Thursday – the latest glass and steel jewel in a province determined to use billions of petro-dollars to create Canada's high-tech health haven.
“This institute has attracted top international cardiac doctors and researchers because they know it is second to none,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper told hundreds gathered to inaugurate the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute on the University of Alberta campus.
“While the Mazankowski Health Institute is located right here in the Alberta capital, it will help save the lives of Canadians from coast to coast to coast.”
One of the dignitaries on hand was the man after whom the heart centre is named – Don Mazankowski, a former federal Tory deputy prime minister and health minister, who has also suffered a heart attack.
“We've now joined the world club of research and advancement and treatment,” said Mr. Mazankowski, 72.
“It's awesome. It's very touching. I'm very honoured by it.”
The institute, funded mainly by the province but also by private donations, will be able to handle the most complex heart cases and handle children and adults under the same roof.
There will be an in-house research facility, an above-ground garden, and a hybrid operating room to let cardiologists and surgeons work together on non-invasive heart procedures.
While the heart institute's first patients are already being seen for diagnostic tests, inpatients will arrive later this year.
“There are many things that put Albertans on the map,” Premier Ed Stelmach told the crowd, which included federal Health Minister Tony Clement and Mr. Stelmach's predecessor, Ralph Klein.
“Few other jurisdictions have the skills and resources to support such a highly specialized facility.”
Alberta has become a magnet for all kinds of workers, including health professionals, due to its booming economy and state-of-the art facilities.
Cardiologist Ian Paterson, originally from Montreal, said earlier this week that the University of Alberta Hospital's cutting-edge approach to heart research and practice, plus the promise of the new heart centre, lured him from the United States in 2004.
Last November the province opened the Alberta Diabetes Institute, down the street from the Mazankowski centre, boasting 200 researchers focused exclusively on treatment of the disease.
The Lois Hole Hospital for Women is set to open next spring, with 3,000 square metres of space focusing on gynecology and care for pregnant women.
...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080501.walta-heart0501/BNStory/National/
Stumble It!