Manzankowski Alberta Heart Institute and The Edmonton Clinic Will Provide World-Class Care
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Everyone is pumped up about Capital Health’s new Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute on the University of Alberta campus.
Construction of the $200 million facility is scheduled to be completed in early 2008. The 18-storey structure – with the space of four football fields – is the product of a collaboration between Capital Health and the U of A.
“The Heart Institute will be a centre for complex cardiac disease care‚ education and research‚” says Dr. Arvind Koshal‚ director of development and external affairs for Manzankowski Alberta Health Institute. Koshal‚ who is also the chief of cardiovascular surgery for Capital Health in Edmonton‚ adds‚ “It will be one of the most technologically advanced heart institutes in North America and one of few equipped to accommodate both pediatric and adult heart patients. It is the first institute of its kind in Western Canada.”
To see a world-class heart institute in Edmonton has been a longtime dream of Koshal‚ who formerly worked at a similar facility in Ottawa.
“Canada has two major heart institutes – in Ottawa and Montreal – and I thought it was time to establish one in Edmonton to serve all of western Canada and beyond‚” he says. “There are many people who made this dream a reality‚ and the Heart Institute will serve everyone from pediatrics to the elderly. All cardiac services imaginable will be here under one roof.”
The institute is named for Don Manzankowski‚ a retired member of Parliament from Alberta who also served as a cabinet minister and deputy prime minister.
Another joint venture by Capital Health and the University of Alberta is the $909 million health facility called The Edmonton Clinic. It is scheduled to open in 2011 across from the Walter C. Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre‚ with a mission to provide all medical services a patient might need – in one day.
“For example‚ if a patient is in need of clinical services‚ we will have a system in place to provide all diagnoses and treatments in one day so that the patient won’t need to make three or four different trips to the institute‚” says Michele Lahey‚ Capital Health executive vice president. “The clinic will have the space and equipment to provide the absolute ultimate care and comfort to patients‚ which is what we are here for.”
Lahey says both the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute and The Edmonton Clinic will contribute to Edmonton’s emerging reputation as “Mayo North‚” a reference to the storied Mayo Clinic in the United States.
“We are committed to establishing Edmonton as Canada’s health capital‚ and calling us Mayo North is obviously a flattering reference‚” she says. “Our job is to keep advancing and improving what we do in medicine‚ and continuing to provide services to patients literally before they are born and then throughout their entire lives.”
Story by Kevin Litwin
