Image Courtesy of AHS

By Chris Brown

From Siksika Nation, Lethbridge

Two from southern Alberta named to AHS board

Oct 2, 2020 | 10:17 AM

Two southern Alberta women have been appointed to the Alberta Health Services board.

Vicki Yellow Old Woman and Dr. Sayeh Zielke were named to the board for three-year terms on Thursday by Health Minister Tyler Shandro.

Yellow Old Woman is the corporate financial officer for Siksika Health Services, a position she has held since January 2009. She also currently serves on the board of directors for the Aboriginal Finance Officers Association (AFOA), Alberta, and on the Audit Committee of AFOA Canada.

Based in Lethbridge, Zielke specializes in the treatment of patients with heart disease. She has served on the executive of the Alberta Medical Association and holds faculty appointments at the University of Calgary and University of Lethbridge.

In a statement, both called the appointments an honour and are eager to give back and serve Albertans.

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“These impressive professionals bring a wealth of experience and expertise in their fields and will be tremendous assets to the board and to all of Alberta Health Services,” said David Weyant, AHS board chair, said in a release.

Vicki Yellow Old Woman

Vicki Yellow Old Woman is an experienced financial professional and member of the Institute of Corporate Directors who has served in various financial and board roles over several decades. Since January 2009, she has been the corporate financial officer for Siksika Health Services, restructuring the finance and accounting area within Siksika Health. She also currently serves on the board of directors for the Aboriginal Finance Officers Association (AFOA), Alberta, and on the Audit Committee of AFOA Canada.

Yellow Old Woman previously served in the roles of chief financial officer, treasurer and Audit Committee chair for Siksika Resource Developments Ltd., the business arm of Siksika Nation, located in southern Alberta. She also worked at CIBC for 14 years in various positions, and held positions of financial officer for Siksika Nation Housing Society and officer manager for the Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada.

Yellow Old Woman completed a bachelor of arts in sociology with a minor in native studies from the University of Calgary in 1998. She currently resides with her husband of 46 years on the Siksika Nation east of Calgary.

Dr. Sayeh Zielke

Dr. Sayeh Zielke is an author, medical director and cardiologist based in Lethbridge. She currently serves as medical director of Chinook Cardiology, which she started in 2013; the Heart Function Clinic at Chinook Regional Hospital, where she has medical privileges; and the Cardiac Rehabilitation Program, part of the Alberta Healthy Living Program of Alberta Health Services.

Dr. Zielke completed her master of international business administration in 2001 at the University of Ottawa. She went on to receive her medical doctorate, also from the University of Ottawa, and was class valedictorian. Dr. Zielke completed her internal medicine and cardiology residencies at the University of Calgary. She further completed training in both cardiac CT and echocardiography at the University of Oxford Hospitals and the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, England. She currently holds faculty appointments as clinical lecturer at the University of Calgary, Department of Cardiac Sciences, Cummings School of Medicine, and as adjunct associate professor at the University of Lethbridge, Department of Neuroscience.

Dr. Zielke was born in Iran and immigrated to Canada as a teenager, finishing high school in Thunder Bay, Ont. She and her husband have a pug named TAVI.