The Health Foundation of East Central Saskatchewan announced on October 9 it had been tasked with fundraising for helicopter pads for Yorkton's hospital and Canora's health centre.
The Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service (STARS) started in Saskatchewan on April 30 with service based in Regina. A second base in Saskatoon is scheduled to come on line this fall.
Discussions and statistical analysis throughout the province identified several priority sites to add helipads where the STARS helicopters can land.
"Every health region has two or three possible sites," said Derek Keller, director of emergency medical services for Sunrise Health Region.
Sunrise clocks approximately 6,000 ambulance service calls per year. Based on that and the types of calls, Keller estimated between 50 and 200 patients annually could benefit from the air ambulance service.
"When you put in transfers between hospitals, it could be more," added Ross Fisher, executive director of the health foundation. "It makes a lot of sense for us."
It won't be cheap, though. The project is expected to cost in the neighbourhood of $600,000 for the required renovations, which includes the helipad, a direct access route from the pad to the emergency room and a new elevator.
The province picks up 75 per cent of that tab leaving $155,000 for the foundation to raise by next spring when the region wants to start construction.
With one event left in the current campaign for new ultrasound equipment-the Gala Evening in Las Vegas, October 20-the foundation did not waste any time launching the new campaign. By the afternoon of October 9, fundraising letters were in residents' mailboxes across the city. There are no current plans for any fundraising events, Fisher said, but he expects they will be making an announcement soon with respect to that aspect of the campaign.
STARS is typically dispatched in cases of heart attacks and strokes, hunting and remote area accidents, motor vehicle accidents, farm accidents and industrial accidents.
