|
Jocelyn Anselmo with President Elect Loida Lumanlan This week we heard from Jocelyn Anselmo, Community Engagement Officer with STARS helicopter air ambulance service. Jocelyn told us that they believe critical care should be available to anyone, no matter where they are. She said that STARS began in 1985 with a base in Calgary and has now expanded to six bases operating 24/7 in Edmonton, Calgary, Grande Prairie, Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg to cover most of the prairie provinces. Each base has a range of about three hundred and fifty km and they have ten helicopters which they move around as needed. They fly and provide support at night by using night vision goggles. They also operate an Emergency Link Centre that co-ordinates calls and provides critical support either physically or virtually as needed. The call centre recieves an average of 99 requests a day and co-ordinates air, ground or satellite support via local EMS, volunteer search teams, ground transport, landing pad support and much more. They decide which type of support is best for the patient and their teams then go by air (fixed wing or helicopter) or ground ambulance to provide that support. Last year they supported 3,365 missions. Their H1-45 helicopters are equipped to provide the best in critical care equivalent to a mobile ICU to the patient. They are staffed by two pilots, one paramedic and one nurse and can carry one patient per trip. They make emergency trips or inter hospital transfers for patients who require their high level of care. She said that they consider education and research central to their success. Their staff is extensively trained and they make use of new technology to improve whenever possible. Jocelyn told us that they are partially funded by government and partially by public support, with the mix varying by province. They are a charitable not for profit with about fifty percent government support with the remainder coming from community partners and fundraising events. It takes about ten million dollars to run each base for one year. Any and all support that we could provide would be welcome. We would like to thank Jocelyn for her very interesting presentation. |
.png)
