Heliports planned for hospitals

Yorkton and Canora hospitals could have heliports installed by as soon as this spring, connecting them to the province's upcoming STARS air ambulance network.

Established in Alberta in 1985, STARS (Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society) is a non-profit organization that provides about 1,500 helicopter airlifts for emergency patients in that province each year.

"We do the sickest of the sick - the critically ill and injured," says Scott Young, STARS' vice president of aviation.

At the request of the Government of Saskatchewan, STARS will be expanding its services to this province in 2012. A base serving the southern part of the province will be established in Regina in April as the first stage of this process.

To supplement the Regina base, assessments have been underway this fall and winter at rural "priority sites" where regional heliports will be needed.

Yorkton and Canora are two such priorities, says Ron Dufresne, air medical services consultant for the Ministry of Health.

An aerodrome consulting firm visited the two communities in October to determine cost estimates and suitable locations for new heliports. The final report from that assessment is expected any day now.

"Ideally, we'll be ready to begin construction first thing in spring," says Dufresne.

Heliports in Yorkton and Canora will likely function exclusively as pick-up points for STARS. Situations extreme enough to require an air ambulance will also require the full complement of care only available at major hospitals in Regina or Saskatoon (the second STARS base, planned to open in late 2012).

STARS has the additional capability to respond to what it calls "scene calls."

"We go right to the scene of the incident," says Young, "be it out in the middle of nowhere - a hunting accident or a quadding accident - or even on the side of a highway, somebody's yard, or somebody's farm if needed."

The Sunrise Health Region already has patient airlift services available through the Yorkton and Kamsack airports. STARS will work "in partnership" with that fixed-wing service, Young explains.

The advantage of the helicopter service is its potential for "bed to bed" facility transfers. Wherever possible, the Ministry intends to install heliports directly on hospital property, as close to the emergency room as possible. Road travel time between hospital and airport will be eliminated.

"It's a significant reduction in out-of-hospital time," says Dufresne.

Dufresne and Young won't speculate on the cost of the heliports until the assessment report is in. To meet aviation standards, the report might call for anything from a simple fenced-off concrete pad to an elaborate elevated structure.

"There are too many variables. They [range] from a little bit of money to a lot of money," Young says.
Some of the construction funding will likely need to be raised locally.

"There's been a tremendous amount of support from corporations and individuals for the STARS program already," says Dufresne, "so we think it'll be a combination of resources coming in to help fund the project."
Executive Director of The Health Foundation Ross Fisher says that his fundraising organization would be open to involving itself in such a campaign if approached.

"That's something that I think certainly my board would be willing to look at."

Both Yorkton and Canora's hospital facilities are due for replacement within the next few years, but those plans will not derail the construction of heliports at the current sites. Sunrise communications director Sharon Tropin says that consideration for heliports will "definitely" be a part of the conceptual planning process now underway for the new buildings.

According to Dufresne, once heliports at the province's priority sites are up and running, construction of landing spaces at other locations will follow.