Air ambulance solved for airport closure
STARS helicopter will be brought in as required during the May 7-31 shutdown
How air ambulance service will be provided when Medicine Hat’s Airport is temporarily closed in May is no longer up in the air.
A helicopter will be used to transport “critically” ill patients because helicopters will still be able to operate at the airport while it is closed from May 7-31 to rehabilitate the runway.
“We will utilize STARS for critical patients to move them out of Medicine Hat,” said Darren Sandbeck, Alberta Health Services EMS chief paramedic.
Patients will be transported by road from the hospital to the airport, and STARS will come down from Calgary for these transfers when required, said Sandbeck.
The fact STARS will have to be dispatched from Calgary to collect a patient in Medicine Hat won’t be a timing issue.
“We know when patients are going to need to be moved and so STARS can be on the way while the patient is being prepared at Medicine Hat hospital, or treatments are being provided there, STARS will be on the way,” said Sandbeck.
Until the hospital heliport is operational, the airport remains the designated landing location for all rotary wing aircraft including STARS and HALO, said an AHS spokesperson.
HALO was not considered as an alternative to STARS, said Sandbeck.
“We will continue to use HALO for the regional helicopter responses they do now but we’ll use STARS for the critical patients where time is a factor,” said Sandbeck.
HALO operates a single-engine helicopter compared to STARS, which is a twin-engine helicopter. In spite of that distinction, HALO does have the capacity to fly to Calgary without refueling en route, said Les Little, local businessman/pilot.
The flight time for HALO would be a few minutes longer but that is negligible, he said. A single-engine helicopter can only fly daylight hours, unlike a twin-engine. By May, a large percentage of the day will be daylight, he noted.
The fixed-wing air ambulance service will still be used for “urgent” cases requiring transfer, said Sandbeck.
A ground ambulance will take the patient from Medicine Hat to Bow Island’s airport. The patient will then be transferred to a fixed-wing air ambulance sent down from Calgary, said Sandbeck. There will not be an air ambulance based in Bow Island for this period.
HALO was not considered for taking patients to Bow Island airport and then transferring them to the fixed-wing aircraft, said Sandbeck. Timing for this method would not make enough of a difference compared to road transport to Bow Island.
“Non-urgent” transfers will be done by ground ambulance, said Sandbeck. This is the case currently, even with the airport open, depending on availability of fixed-wing air ambulances.
“We are confident the plan ensures patients will continue to receive high level of care. We know this is an inconvenience but we also know that once this work is done it will benefit the airport and the whole region for years to come,” said Sandbeck.
Alberta Health Services signed a contract with CanWest in September 2017 to provide fixed-wing air ambulance service across most of the province, including this region, effective April 1.