Anton was introduced by Lloyd Talbot. Anton was selected to attend the 2018 edition of Rotary`s ‘Adventures in Citizenship’ in Ottawa. Our Charleswood Rotary Club sponsored his trip. Anton is involved with the arts (Rainbow Stage, U. of Manitoba Youth Orchestra), sports (Ultimate Frisbee Championship in Vancouver) and academics.

 

Anton Sokalski thanked the club for the opportunity to attend the Adventures in Citizenship program – 2018, held in Ottawa. It was “super-cool”to attend this event. He is in grade 12 at Kelvin H.S. The arts are a big thing in his life, as are sports and academics. While in Ottawa he met a group of amazing people from all over Canada. They were from large cities to small rural communities. Each had their own personal perspectives on what it means to be Canadian. He learned a lot from this mix of people. Some were very well established and showed him the importance of networking.

 

Anton then played a film presentation that he produced as his submission to attend the 2018 Rotary Adventures in Citizenship. He titled the film “What Does It Mean To Be Canadian”. The film was a montage of various important cultural and natural landmarks from Manitoba and across Canada. At the end of the film there was a conclusion “To Love One Another”. Canada is a place for everyone. One of the pictures in the presentation was a photo of Karl Biehl, our past exchange student from Norway. Anton is a friend of Karl, he advised that Karl has thought of returning to live in Canada.

 

The next section of Anton`s presentation was a series of photos from the Adventures in Citizenship event. A photo of the final night dance party, outside due to being “hot and sweaty”. A photo of the final dinner, all the different experiences that the attendees have had. This varied greatly with vastly different perspectives from province to province. A few photos of the group sitting in the House of Commons. They were able to ask questions of the Speaker of the House, as well as having questions directed at them from the Speaker. In another photo – party on the bus, music included by some portable Wi-Fi speakers!

 

Anton`s host dad was originally from Australia. He is now a professor at the University of Ottawa, Psychology.  They had some really interesting conversations. One involved the use of the words “real ingredients”in packaged foods. Aren`t they all real ingredients? They also had a great time playing guitar together.

 

Q/A

 

1.-Lloyd Talbot advised that our club member, Glenn Campbell, was involved in the organization of the Adventures in Citizenship program when he lived in Ottawa, as he was a Rotarian there.

 

2.-Glenn Campbell wondered if Anton took part in the talent night production.

A.- No, by the time he realized that this was part of the program, all the slots were full. They didn`t even get through all the entries that were registered.

 

3.-Eira Braun-Labossiere asked how long the event was.

A.- Three to four days. They pack a lot into those days. He stayed across the river in Quebec, so the days started early and ended late.

 

4.-Brian Campbell asked what does Canadian Citizenship mean to you?

A.- To love one another and to respect each other. We all have choices to make and they should include tolerance and understanding.

 

5.-Ed Thompson wanted to know, what now?

A.-Anton would like to be a Page in the House of Commons. His father was a Page. He would like to study voice at the University of Ottawa – Music and Performance Arts.

 

Troy Pauls was introduced by Nancy Morris. Troy started his professional training as an experienced military medic. He then went on to 18 years as an Advanced Care Paramedic with the City of Winnipeg. He has over 10 years of combined Flight Paramedic experience on both fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft. Troy has over 20 years on Critical Incident Peer Support teams. He is the recipient of the Governor General`s EMS Exemplary Service Medal. Presently, he is STARS Community Education Lead and Flight Paramedic since 2012.

 

S.T.A.R.S. stands for Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society. They have completed 720 missions in 2017 including patient hospital transfers. They now have an agreement with the City of Winnipeg to respond to incidents on the Perimeter Highway. STARS exists to save lives. The first mission was in 1985. At the time they were called Lions Air Ambulance Service. The mission was to transport a critically ill infant to tertiary care in Calgary. STARS is the “best part of someone`s darkest day”. A STARS VIP is a Very Important Patient. In 1991 STARS opened a base in Edmonton, 2005 saw a base in Grande Prairie open, Winnipeg`s base opened officially in 2011 and finally, Regina and Saskatoon had bases open in 2012. STARS now has coverage of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. In Manitoba there are pads to land in the South of the Province to cover ~93% of the population in the province.

 

With the six bases, STARS has had 40,000 calls since 1985. The founder and Chief Executive Officer of STARS, Dr. Gregory Powell, was made an officer in the Order of Canada by the Governor General of Canada in 2007.

 

In 2009-2011, Manitoba had major flooding. STARS was contracted to provide service during that time. In 2011/2012 STARS had 2,600 missions in Manitoba. In 2012 the Manitoba government signed a purchase/service agreement with STARS for a 10-year period.

 

When a Transport Canada certified helicopter pad is installed in a community, this will increase the service by STARS to that community. The H.S.C. opened a helicopter pad on the roof of the complex in 2016. Since the opening, there have been 400 patients transported to / from the pad on HSC. Orange helicopter from Ontario also uses the landing pad on HSC. They operated a helicopter that is about 3x as big as the STARS helicopters. The Winnipeg base has an arrangement with HSC to be able to pick-up a pediatric team from the hospital (NICU / PICU) then travel to the incident, or transfer hospital, with the treatment team already on board to treat the child.

 

Another part of Troy`s job description is to travel to communities around the province to train the various Fire/Rescue teams for the STARS helicopter arrival on site of an incident. He has trained 150 rural fire teams to date. This is a 2-hour session to enable the helicopter to land in a safe location that has been cleared and controlled.

 

For the last two years STARS helicopters in Manitoba have had fresh ‘O-Negitive’blood on board. The blood is kept in a temperature-controlled case that allows the blood to be turned back into the blood lab stores for future use if not used by STARS in 3 days. They have rotated to fresh blood stock over 100 times since starting to carry blood on board.

 

The pilots use night vision goggles for night flights. This enables a completely different view of the landscape vs. what they would have without the goggles. Even power lines can be visualized during flight. Another new item on board is Ultrasound. There is a need for generous donations in order to be able to have Ultrasound. The transducer is worth over $30K alone. The system allows the medical staff to look for internal bleeding. If this is seen during the flight, the patient will then be taken straight to the O.R. on arrival at the hospital. No time wasted in the E.R.. They can also identify collapsed lungs, fluid around the heart.  Eleven staff of STARS are trained in the use of the Ultrasound in Manitoba. During the 3-day course they scanned 67 patients to see if they could actually visualize the conditions. This training cost $5,000 per staff member.

 

STARS also have an education bus that will travel around the province and provide a mobile simulation program. This is a free service that they provide. The program was started with a donation in 2012 of $250,000 by RBC.

 

Fundraising initiatives has included an annual ‘STARS Rescue on the Island’. An individual will be left alone on an island and must reach a fund-raising goal before STARS will rescue them from their island isolation. $2 million has been raised in the past 6 years with this event. Another fund-raising event is the ‘Critical Care on the Air’Radiothon. STARS also sell calendars for fund-raising. The 2019 calendar has only one Manitoban VIP featured in the calendar. The VIP is Giles Grenier. He had a stroke in his mid 40`s that caused loss of function on one side of his body. Due to the quick response time of STARS, he was given a clot buster drug and now has no functional defects. He has gone back to work in a rural fire department.

 

STARS is a good fit for Manitoba. The average age of a Manitoban is 58 years old. There is an increase in call volume of 6-10% every year in Manitoba. Rural residents have a time & distance disadvantage due to their location. For trauma - HSC, for cardiac care – St. Boniface Hospital, for pediatrics – Children`s Hospital. In the past, before STARS, transport of a critical patient to the city would possibly mean the closure of the rural hospital. This was because the doctor would have to travel in the ambulance with the patient, leaving no one to service the rural E.R..

 

Q/A

 

1.-Elaine Thompson asked how many helicopters STARS has in Manitoba.

A.- 1.5 – Manitoba shares one spare helicopter with Regina base. The helicopter is stored at the Winnipeg base.

 

2.-Craig Halwachs, is STARS allowed to fly across provincial borders?

A. No, South East corner of Manitoba at the USA border has special rules that apply only there.

 

3.- Glenda Werbowski queried as to how many patients can the helicopter carry at one time.

A.- Can carry two patients, but it is crowded. The patients have to be fairly stable to transport two at the same time. Usually transport one to a nearby hospital by ambulance while STARS takes the most critical to Winnipeg. Then they fly back to the rural hospital to get the second patient and transport them after being stabilized at the rural hospital.

 

4.- Jim Forestell wanted to know how long to get airborne?

A.- Average is 7 minutes from dispatch call. 8 minutes is the max. mandated.

 

5.-Ed Thompson advised that he had been told that each rural helipad cost $100,000 to build.

A.- Yes, they are very expensive, but local businesses can help out by providing various parts of the project to reduce actual cash outlay. A retired site surveyor has come out of retirement to provide the required survey for no cost. This alone is a $5,000 saving per pad.

 

6. – Brian Campbell asked who / what determines if STARS will respond to an incident.

A.- The call will go to Brandon Emergency Response Centre. They will triage the call using a pre-determined set of question cards. There are 80 determinants that will result in STARS responding.

 

7.-Boyd Halls wanted to know if STARS has ever had a crash?

A.-No

 

8.- Martin Labossiere asked if there were any weather restrictions regarding being able to respond.

A.-They are able to operate in a wide range of weather conditions. Up to 90 kilometers / hour winds. Engine start-up down to -40 degrees Celsius. Freezing fog will keep them on the ground. 5% of flights called for are not flown due to weather.

 

Ed Gramiak thanked Troy for coming out tonight to give this informative presentation. He is glad to know that this service is available and ready to go at a moments notice.  A donation to ShelterBox will be made in Troy`s name. 

 

 

 

Sarge Mike asked Nancy Morris to pull the potential winning stub. # 103 was pulled. Catherine Moltzan held the matching ticket. Her attempt at finding the blue marble failed tonight. The cash pot grows.