Heroes in the Sky – An update from STARS Air Ambulance for the area

STARS Air Ambulance, founded by Dr. Gregory Powell, has been a staple in the province for 38 years.
There are six bases from which STARS operates: Calgary, Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Saskatoon, Regina,
and Winnipeg. During a recent presentation to Woodlands County Council, Glenda Farnden, the Senior
Municipal Relations Liaison for STARS, shared statistics from 2023 and a comparison from 2010 on how
STARS has impacted residents.
“STARS is fueled by generosity,” she explained. “Previously, we had a ten-year affiliation agreement with
Alberta Health Services for twenty percent government funding, which expired in 2020. We have been
year to year since then. Last year, they made an announcement that they would look at higher funding
for STARS.” Farden explained that STARS received a funding top-up from AHS, covering 50 percent of
operational costs. “It’s about ten million dollars per base, with three bases in Alberta, (which is) 30
million dollars. This (funding) does not include our emergency link centre, which is our dispatch center,
and does not include education and training or administration costs. It’s strictly anything operationally
related.”
She said they are now having “high-level discussions” with AHS to secure another ten-year affiliation
agreement at the increased funding level of 50 percent and said she would report back once they know
more. As a not-for-profit organization, STARS relies heavily on the communities it supports. Numerous
fundraising programs and events make the program possible, including the STARS Lottery and STARS
calendar initiatives.
Another way STARS is supported is through direct partnerships with municipalities. Woodlands County
has provided per capita funding for several years. During the 2022 budget deliberations, Woodlands
County Council approved a support request of $3/capita, totalling $14,250.00 per year for 2022-2024.
Community funding gives STARS a stable income source to rely on, roughly two million yearly.
Ninety percent of Alberta helps fund STARS through either municipal or regional partnerships. New
municipalities, including those in the Peace River Regional District in BC, continue to join. “You can very
much see that we are starting to really unite the entire province. We just added five new rural
municipalities, six more urban municipalities and we have several pending that have asks on the table.”
Within Woodlands County, STARS dealt with three incidents near Fort Assiniboine and six critical inter-
facility transfers with the Whitecourt Hospital. “It’s really important to understand that the majority of
all critical inter-facility transfers are occurrences of scene calls in the rural areas. They’ve been taken by
ground ambulance to the nearest hospital, and of course, because it is of a critical nature, STARS is
called. That really does impact what is happening throughout your rural areas,” explained Farden.
When comparing 2019-2023 numbers, Woodlands County sees approximately thirteen missions yearly.
The highest year was 2021, when STARS flew sixteen missions. Thanks to the geographical location of
Woodlands County, Farden noted that two bases, Edmonton and Grande Prairie, service the area. “That
is also a key aspect for your residents (to know) is that there is a dual coverage and service,” she said.
From 2010 to 2023, 176 patients flew by STARS in Woodlands County. A further breakdown, using
patient postal codes of where they lived at the time of the flight, showed that 152 were from

Whitecourt, 12 were from Fort Assiniboine, eleven were from Blue Ridge, and one was from Lone Pine.
She clarified that residents from Woodlands County with a Whitecourt postal code (for mail purposes)
would come up under Whitecourt in the graph.
Of the 176 residents flown, 104 were flown out from the Woodlands boundary. The remaining 72 were
flown out from 24 other municipalities. “Accidents and illness do not happen just because you are close
to home. This is a testament to our partnership that your residents have access to STARS all across
Western Canada from Manitoba West,” said Farden.
One shared program update was a pilot project to help provide critical care virtually. Farden explained
that rural doctors don’t often see the types of things that STARS sees and that having a secure link on an
iPad at rural hospitals can give other doctors a virtual way to support rural doctors and provide
procedural guidance without being in person.
The Emergency Link Centre, the call centre for STARS, receives over 36,000 emergency requests per
year, roughly 100 per day. She said STARS is seeing a 30 to 35 percent increase in mission call volume.
Farden explained that being connected to industry gives everyone access to more resources. “If there’s
an incident in a rural area, but there’s an industry paramedic a kilometre down the road, we can contact
them because we know where these sites are and what level of medical expertise they have at the site.
We can contact them while other local resources are en route. Another safety net, if you will.”
In October, STARS received its tenth and final helicopter to round out the updated fleet of H145s.
Thanks to significant fundraising efforts and selling off the older fleet, all ten helicopters are paid for and
include top-of-the-line technology. “As an innovative leader, we were the very first medical organization
to be able to fly at night more than twenty years ago. Fifty percent of our call volume occurs at night. In
the last twenty years, we’ve flown over 55,000 missions, and tens of thousands of lives have been saved
because we were able to fly at night. We are very proud of that fact.”
STARS air ambulances have numerous things on board, featuring small but powerful technology,
including a handheld I-stat Lab, which measures hemoglobin, blood gasses and electrolytes, a ventilator,
a video laryngoscope, handheld ultrasound, and units of universal blood. STARS was North America’s
first Helicopter Emergency Medical Service program to bring blood onboard.
Councillor Alan Deane asked what the replacement schedule would be for the new fleet. Farden
explained that the replaced fleet had supported them for decades and expected the same from the new
birds. “I would say that anywhere from 20-30 years again, for this current fleet. We maintain our fleet
meticulously, which is why the previous fleet lasted so long.”
Reeve Dave Kusch called STARS a “fantastic partner to be aligned with” and called their work “second to
none.” Following the presentation, Farden was presented with a check for the 2024 funding allotment of
$14,250.00.