Support for STARS

Sharon McLeay
Times Contributor

 

Rural families depend on STARS air ambulance for an integral part of their human health lifeline.
STARS appeared in front of Wheatland County council, asking for an increase in Wheatland County’s per capita donations.
“We have access now to almost 100 transport positions, across six bases in three provinces that we serve,” said Glenda Farnden, senior municipal relations liaison for STARS. “STARS strive to be on the leading edge of critical care advancements.”
The provincial government, through Alberta Health Services, only funds 21 per cent of STARS costs. The other funds have to be generated through donations, fundraising efforts such as their lottery and calendar sales, and website registration donations.
“We have had a drop in donations. We have had a very difficult couple of years,” said Farnden.
She said the organization recognizes the economic downturn has also hit municipalities and businesses. She said business donations have decreased and fundraising events for STARS are also decreasing.
STARS has addressed some of this impact by downsizing and reorganizing staff duties within the organization. To additionally meet shortfalls, Farnden is asking municipalities to increase their yearly donation commitments. She asked if Wheatland County could increase their funding from $1 per person to $2 for a total of $16,570, which was approved Nov. 8.
Call statistics average about five callouts per day in Alberta. Over the last six years, STARS has responded in Wheatland County 31 times. Farnden broke down the cost of those calls: 31 calls would cost approximately $170,000.
STARS has carried out 3,423 missions across the Prairie Provinces since their inception in 1985. They currently have 11 response helicopters to service Prairie populations. Farnden said call volume has increased about nine per cent over the last couple of years.
“Helicopter EMS has the opportunity to provide the bed to bed, or scene to bed advantage which greatly reduces stress on critically injured patients,” said Farnden.
Farnden said their universal blood on board program has improved critical patient outcomes for transported patients. They have also recently acquired a Hamilton T100 ventilator that can be used for all patients no matter what body size, similar to the ones utilized in critical wings of hospitals.
In Alberta, 75 per cent of municipalities are part of the municipal funding initiative. Municipalities generate about $1.6 million in donations for the agency. She reminded council that this funding allows a first class air ambulance patient response, eliminating the extra worry families would have about the cost of receiving expensive lifesaving care. She said some municipalities are dedicating and entrenching donations in their protective and emergency services budgets, as they are committed to STARS for the long term. This action allows STARS more security in their budget and aids future decision making.
“It helps us to ensure the safety and quality of life for your residents and, at the same time, you will ensure the sustainability for STARS for generations to come,” said Farnden. “We are all uniting together to preserve a service that we are privileged to have.”
Big versus small in emergency air support
One question from council was why STARS recently acquired AW139 helicopter and why STARS is moving it to the Edmonton base, which already has an AW139. The smaller BK117 helicopters will be utilized from the Calgary base to service southern areas.
“Over the last 31 years the BK has served us very well and the majority of the missions throughout the southern regions have been with the BK117, specifically because most of the landing pads won’t accommodate the larger unit,” said Farnden.
She said the larger units often require a ground transport assist and the smaller units can offer bed to bed options for injured clients. STARS also considered cost savings when they decided to move the AW139, as training and mechanical work could be consolidated to one area for one specific platform of care. The larger helicopters are also better suited for across province flight.
Coun. Brenda Knight questioned whether another helicopter is replacing the larger one being moved. Farnden said no new replacement for the lost helicopter to the Calgary base was being considered. On-call back-up is available when several emergencies happen at the same time; however, the transport method for the client would be assessed and response adapted to the nature of the call and resources available at the time.
There is a requirement that local municipal area landing sites need to upgrade their helipads to accommodate larger helicopter unit sizes.
Coun. Ben Armstrong questioned why the landing platform regulations were so stringent.
“Those helicopters can land in some pretty rough spots. They can land anywhere and pick up people and yet they are required to have a pristine area to drop people off, “said Coun. Armstrong. “You don’t have to spend $2 million to upgrade. To me somebody isn’t using their head and I think the money they spend in upgrading them to that level can be better spent somewhere else.”
Farnden said the service must follow Transport Canada ruling. She said some latitude is given for landings in lifesaving measures, but for repeated landing sites, Transport Canada enforces its guidelines.
She said the future will bring more use of medium-sized air transport vehicles, and suggested it may be good planning for a municipality to consider the landing pads upgrades needed in the future for those medium-sized helicopters, as they may be a part of municipal emergency preparedness plans.