Cardiologist University of Alberta Professor in the Division of Cardiology and Director of Cardiovascular Research, and Co-Director of the Canadian VIGOUR Centre

The Canadian VIGOUR Centre is a research organization committed to the improving cardiovascular health.

Dr. Ezekowitz’s research at the Maz involves the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence to provide insight and discovery out of mountains of invaluable data.

Some of the research that he and his colleagues are currently working on will give them the ability to “predict” how patients will respond to certain treatments in advance so doctors can determine best treatment options.

Walter went to the Maz for a valve replacement in March 2019.

After his surgery, he was recovering in the ICU from his surgery, when he had a severe heart attack.

He was brought back into surgery where he suffered another attack.

He was in a coma for several weeks while his body recovered.

He was suffering from organ failure.

Luckily he was already at the Maz and they had the equipment he needed to stay alive.

He was placed on an Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) life support machine which took over for his heart and lungs.

He was finally able to leave the hospital in June after a long recovery.

Today he is feeling great and doing well. He is very thankful to have had the Maz and all the amazing staff there to help him when he needed it. 

The Maz is home to North America’s largest and most extensive heart attack program supporting frontline practitioners with diagnosis, triage and expedited treatment of ST segment elevated myocardial infarction.

In the past, Heart Pledge Day has helped raise funds for ECMO Transport Systems, or portable life support machines, that allow doctors to bring the machines to patients ensuring they get care faster.

Cliff Huber is a Business Development Manager at Scott Builders, a longtime sponsor of 630 CHED Heart Pledge Day.

Scott Builders have core values that define who they are and what they stand for. Two of which are:

It is important for them to support their community, to grow and be healthy, and supporting the Maz through this event is one way to do that.

Cliff has a personal connection to the Maz as well.

In 2012 Cliff suffered a myocardial infarction (heart attack) and came to the Maz for treatment.

They discovered a blockage in his heart and they put in a stent by going in through his wrist.

Cliff has other family and friends who have also gotten treatment at the Maz.

Georgina Hawkeye is a registered nurse in the electrophysiology lab and cardiac recovery room.

She works with patients who have problems with the electrical system of their heart or the circulation to the heart muscle.

Your heart's electrical system controls the timing of your heartbeat by regulating your:

In the electrophysiology lab, she helps people with poor electrical function in their heart figure out what the issue is and fix it – they put in pacemakers if your heart is going too slow and can stop your heart from going too fast. 

She loves that everyone who comes in for treatment to her unit gets an answer or even sees a change that day – she gets to see the results of her work immediately and the patients see the benefits. 

Each year the Maz sees more than 600 adult and pediatric electrophysiology cases.

At first, Dave Kaminski thought he had a bad case of indigestion. But as the discomfort grew worse, he became aware of a pain in his chest that began moving down his left arm.

“Oh my God,” he thought to himself (it was the middle of the night and he did not want to wake anyone up), “I’m having a heart attack.”

Then the real pain came. “It was like a vice squeezing me so hard I couldn’t breathe.”

By the time he finally arrived at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, his life was in the balance.

Doctors at the Maz determined that he had suffered not one but two heart attacks. They saved his life by placing a stent in one of his arteries that was 100% blocked.

All of this happened in 2011, when Dave was 51. He vowed to make changes in his life and he has stuck with them. He no longer drinks 12-15 cups of coffee a day, and has not smoked a single Colt cigar since the day he had his heart attack.