Critical care, anywhere, including Woodlands County and beyond

STARS air ambulance helicopters have been a welcomed and familiar sight above Western
Canada for nearly forty years. The red ‘birds’ signal that something serious has occurred and
that the only option is to bring in those who will land almost anywhere to retrieve a patient in
need, whether on the highway, in a field, or otherwise.
The funding model for STARS is unique, given the job they do. Until this past June, STARS was
predominately funded through its fundraising initiatives, donations and municipal partners,
covering eighty percent of its yearly budget, with twenty percent from the provincial government,
in a longstanding contract which ended earlier this year.
In June, however, the Alberta Government signed on to block fund the program by 15 million
dollars a year, over 40 percent more funding. During a recent presentation to Woodlands
County Council, Glenda Farnden, Senior Municipal Relations Liaison for STARS, outlined how
important the new funding arrangement was to the company. (It is) a huge advancement in
sustainability for STARS annually. (It is) almost double what they previously were supporting us
at,” she explained.
Farnden was at the meeting to provide Woodlands County Council with an update on STARS
activities within the county as part of a funding agreement through their Municipal Initiative,
which sees the county give just over $14,000 yearly to STARS, joining a vast majority of the
province in providing support on a per capita basis.
The Municipal Initiative through STARS helps fund the remaining 56 percent of the budget. Most
of the dollars that STARS uses to fund the program come through fundraisers, lotteries and
donations, and communities that choose to support it.
“Next year, we will celebrate our 40th anniversary of serving Albertans. Forty years of providing
critical care anywhere. In a worst-case scenario, STARS is your best hope,” said Farnden. “For
the last fiscal year, STARS received 37,365 emergency requests through its Emergency Link
Centre. We do not fly on all those missions, but our transport physicians are involved on every
critical call, regardless of the mode of transport. Whether that patient is going by ground
ambulance or Alberta Health Services fixed wing,” explained Farnden. “Because STARS is the
dedicated critical care provider in Alberta, we also dispatch Halo and Hero,” she added.
She said the Western Canada STARS program now averages eleven missions per day, and
each of the three Alberta bases (Calgary, Edmonton, Grande Prairie) costs 11.4 million yearly.
Since 1985, more than 60 thousand missions have flown. Through the 2023/2024 season,
1,720 missions happened in Alberta.
Farnden provided information on the types of incidents that STARS responded to over that
timeline. She said it was a five-way split, with each category (cardiac, stroke, vehicle incidents,
other medical calls, trauma) seeing roughly twenty percent of missions. “It gives you an idea of
the high-level critical nature of our calls,” she said.
The Municipal Initiative that Woodlands County is part of stretches across 94 percent of the
province, with new municipalities joining each year. “Our main request is to ask for a minimum
of $2 per capita. We have communities giving anywhere from $2 to $90 and everything in

between. You are one of our Regional Leaders giving at a higher amount. You are giving at $3
per capita,” explained Farnden.
Three missions happened near Fort Assiniboine in 2023 and one in 2024. “These may not all be
pointed to your residents. These may be some of your neighbours or someone else that’s just
travelling through, but these are the missions that have been flown within your boundaries,”
explained Farnden.
When accounting for inter-facility transfers through the Whitecourt Hospital, the average for the
area is thirteen missions per year. “You’re ideally located where you are served by two different
STARS bases, Grande Prairie and Edmonton. You’ll have lots of incidents throughout the rural
areas where a critical patient has been delivered by local ground ambulance to your local
hospital, but because it is of a critical nature, STARS is called to intervene and get patients to
tertiary care,” she explained.
Another part of the presentation was Farnden’s postal code project. Using the postal codes of
patients receiving help, she can see where people are from and if they are near or far from
home. She said this was key to showing that STARS is borderless and that within Western
Canada, a Woodlands County resident could be helped even while on a skiing vacation, for
example.
“One hundred and seventy-six area residents have flown with STARS since 2010. Of those, 98
patients were picked up in Whitecourt and 78 area residents have flown in 27 other locations,
using the service while away from home,” explained Farnden. One hundred and fifty-two
residents were from Whitecourt, twelve from Fort Assiniboine, eleven from Blue Ridge and one
from Lone Pine. “This is a testament to the value of our partnership.”
One of the most recent advancements in the care provided onboard a STARS helicopter is the
increase in blood. “Because we have seen so many massive trauma cases, we increased to
carrying four units of universal blood, in addition now, with this new medication Fibrinogen. After
applying the two units of blood for a severe trauma patient, we will utilize the Fibrinogen for
hemorrhage control, which helps that patient to build blood clots. This is a huge advancement in
our critical care model in being able to help patients because it buys them more time, and that
patient does not bleed out,” explained Farnden.
The final piece that Farnden shared was of a record-breaking flight that had recently happened
for a STARS crew. “We flew our longest mission. It was for a hunter in the rugged northernmost
mountains of B.C, on a riverbank at dusk. STARS Grande Prairie was literally the only hope this
patient had to fly at night, bring the critical care model and bring the expertise. More than 2,400
litres of fuel were used, and more than 1,700 kilometres were flown. They said if we flew it in a
straight line, it was flying from Calgary to Los Angeles,” said Farnden.
Councillor Bruce Prestidge (Blue Ridge) shared that he lives near the STARS flight path and
knows the sound. “Your helicopters have a distinct sound, and you know they are doing
something (important).” Farnden agreed. “They’re not coming if it’s not a critical situation,” to
which they both nodded in agreement.