Dr. Zufelt's Story

Pediatric Cardiologist Dr. Kirk Zufelt knows that having the right team and the right equipment is crucial to good patient outcomes.

Dr. Zufelt, Toni Waite and Cheryl Aubin make up the Pediatric Cardiology team at Group Health Centre, where they specialize in fetal echocardiography. Fetal Echocardiography is the study of a baby’s pea-sized heart in-utero, which helps detect heart conditions and abnormalities. Since Group Health Centre started offering this service, the team hasn’t missed a single case of Fetal Congenital Heart Disease.

Dr. Zufelt credits his team at Group Health Centre with the success of the program.

“The reason why this works here is because we have the support, the infrastructure, the equipment and the staff who all come together to make this a viable program for all the babies and mothers in Sault Ste. Marie. We see how thankful people are and that makes it worthwhile to us. So we pride ourselves on having a program that shouldn’t, wouldn’t, be here normally and isn’t in any other community of this size”

He is lucky to have the expertise of Registered Diagnostic Cardiac Sonographer Cheryl Aubin. She is the only technician in Northern Ontario that is registered to perform both paediatric and fetal echocardiograms. Cheryl says, “I’m very passionate about my work. I enjoy my job. When people come in and they’re not feeling well, I want to find an answer.”

After a successful fundraising campaign in 2017, over $150,000 was raised to purchase new echocardiography equipment so we can continue to offer this program here in Northern Ontario. If you would like to support the Pediatric Cardiology team and their important work, please donate here.

Watch the video below to see how Dr. Zufelt and his team saved the life of one young patient named Faith.