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Our guest speaker tonight was Daryl Braun - Donor Relations Officer at STARS (Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service) After working in radio and television news for 46 years in Altona, Brandon and Steinbach, Daryl started with STARS a month after retiring at the end of 2019. His connection with STARS dates back to August 2015 when his son-in-law survived a motorcycle-deer collision thanks to the quick assistance of STARS. Darryl has been an active volunteer throughout his career. He is married and has two daughters and two grandchildren. Reading, golfing and camping take up his spare time. STARS (initially named Lions Air Ambulance Service) was founded in 1985 by Dr Gregory Powell in Calgary. STARS came to Edmonton 1991, to Grand Prairie in 2005, to Winnipeg in 2011 and to Saskatoon and Regina in 2012. In 2020-21, the number of STARS missions flown in the three provinces was 2994 (i.e. “6 shy of 3000 – an average of 8 per day”). A video indicated that STARS from Alberta helped out Winnipeg during the flood season in 2009 by transporting a young unresponsive boy (who had been swept into a culvert by floodwaters) to the Health Sciences Centre where his parents stayed by his side for 13 days, at which time the boy awoke from his coma. Besides being a speedy transport to a hospital, the STARS helicopters, available 24 hours a day, provide an intensive care unit while in flight – equipped with ultrasound, blood supplies for transfusions, medications, monitors, a critical care nurse, a critical care paramedic and two pilots (while one is at the controls, the other is processing information). STARS works with personnel in Emergency Measures Services, fire departments, the RCMP, local law enforcement and conservation officers. A new helicopter was purchased in November 2021 and it has had 700 missions to the end of March – including many COVID patients. STARS employs about 50 people who are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Employees include nurses, paramedics, doctors and engineers servicing the helicopter – which is essentially a flying intensive care unit. While STARS has a contract with the province that provides the basic operational funding, it is the public’s and corporations’ donations that provide the ultrasound and equipment on board. In response to questions, we learned the following: For northern Manitoba, service is provided by fixed wing aircraft. Local helicopters transport patients from isolated locations. In Manitoba, STARS is dispatched by the 911 system. Physicians assess the seriousness of the situation and decide if STARS will fly or not. STARS pilots can fly out at night – they have night vision goggles (which are locked up at the base because it’s US military technology and cost between $20,000 and $30,000). The range of STARS flights is an hour’s flight out. Chuck thanked the speaker and handed him a cheque for $1500 as the donation from the club. Daryl in turn thanked the club for our hospitality (and the donation). |
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