STARS – Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service continues to be a valuable, life-saving part of the emergency response system in the region, the Mountain View County policies and priorities committee heard last week.
Glenda Farnden, senior municipal relations liaison with the STARS Foundation, updated the committee on STARS activities in the district and plans for the coming year.
STARS operates helicopters across the province, as well as in B.C. and Saskatchewan.
STARS is averaging five calls a day in Alberta in 2016, she said.
In Mountain View County there have been 50 calls so far in 2016 (up to Sept. 30), including 14 Sundre-area scene calls.
Farnden highlighted some of the newest medical equipment now in use in STARS helicopters, including the Hamilton T-1 transport ventilator, 3-in-1 IV pumps, defibrillators, portable ultrasound, and video laryngoscopes.
Asked to explain the recent announcement that STARS was moving its newer, larger helicopters out of the Calgary base and to the Edmonton base, she said it is part of a cost-saving initiative.
Patient service in the district will not be negatively impacted by the change, she said.
“There is no change in patient care,” she said. “There is still the same amount of helicopters at the Calgary base to serve residents.”
Recent upgrades of helipads in the district were needed and will allow larger helicopters, including twin-engine machines, to use the facilities in the future, she said.
“It's the way of the future, to upgrade the helipads,” she said.
She asked Mountain View County to continue supporting STARS going forward with a continuation of the current $2 per capita contribution ($24,718 in 2016).
The committee received Farnden's report as information.
