Crane on skyline so helipad must close

Patients to be flown to Breslau airport where ambulances will wait

KITCHENER — Patients who must be transported by helicopter to and from Kitchener’s hospitals will be diverted to the Breslau airport after the downtown helipad was closed due to a new construction crane erected nearby.

The helipad is at Walter and Wellington streets, between Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital. This week, a tall crane went up not too far away.

“The crane affects the flight path to the helipad,” said Grand River spokesperson Mark Karjaluoto.

Helicopters will now have to land at the Region of Waterloo International Airport, and an ambulance will need to cover the rest of the distance to either hospital. Karjaluoto said they were notified on Wednesday morning by Ornge, which provides air ambulance services in Ontario.

The downtown helipad gets 100 flights a year, equal to one every few days. By comparison, Karjaluoto said, Grand River’s emergency department sees 70,000 patients a year.

“It’s not a big number, but it’s an important number,” Karjaluoto said.

Helicopters bring patients to the Kitchener hospitals from surrounding areas or take them to a larger centre for more specialized care. Patients include premature babies, trauma victims or neurosurgical cases.

Depending on the patient’s stability,

they would be transported by land ambulance. Critically injured patients most often are transported directly from the scene by helicopter to Toronto.

Dr. Peter Potts, chief of staff for Grand River and St. Mary’s, said the impact of the change is minimal.

“We wouldn’t use the helicopter all that often,” Potts said. “The vast majority is land transportation. It’s more practical.”

Landing at the Breslau airport would add 15 to 20 minutes.

“It really wouldn’t be a significant change in the overall length of time,” Potts said.

The hospital is working with federal and local authorities on the issue. The helipad is federally regulated, while the construction would be a municipal matter.

A meeting is planned with Transport Canada on Monday. It’s not known when the helipad will reopen.

“Hopefully we can come to a solution very, very soon,” Karjaluoto said.

Local paramedic Peter Zanon, who works for Ornge, is concerned about the situation. He said the crane was first spotted and reported by a pilot, who was luckily flying during the day and spotted the obstacle.

“This crane went up overnight,” Zanon said. “There was no lighting on it.”

He wonders how the crane, which looks to be 10-storeys high, was allowed to go up in the helipad’s flight path.

“What’s more important: the helipad or the crane?”

Nav Canada, which owns and operates Canada’s civil air navigation service, issued a notice to pilots about the helipad being closed on Wednesday and for approximately a week to next Wednesday, said spokesperson Ron Singer.

That was sent out as a NOTAM, or notice to airmen, which the agency puts out whenever there is a safety issue or closure that pilots flying in the area need to know about.