STARS unveils new copter
‘This is the newest and best:’ chief pilot
The newest addition to STARS air ambulance’s fleet of helicopters has a medical interior with space for two patients, a de-icing system for flights in adverse weather conditions, and the ability to fly faster.
“This is it. This is the newest and best technology that’s out there,” said Al Baldwin, chief pilot, of the AW139 helicopter unveiled at the STARS base at Edmonton International Airport on Friday.
The new machine will enhance Albertans’ access to emergency pre-hospital critical care. “It’s more flexibility, more range, more speed, more options for us to do our work,” said Andrea Robertson, STARS president and CEO.
The AW139 measures 16.67 metres from front to back, compared with 13 metres for the existing BB117. It has a normal cruise speed of 278 km/h, more than 50 km/h faster than the BK117.
The helicopter is the first of two new AW139 helicopters purchased by STARS — short for Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society — a non-profit medical services provider, for use in Alberta. The second will arrive in Calgary in mid-2013.
“It’s been a long time in the making and it’s nice to finally have it here. We’ll start train- ing in January and we should be operational in February,” Baldwin said.
The AW139 has a larger medical interior a setup designed by nurses and physicians specifically for STARS.
“This allows us to move on both sides of the patient and to access the patient better,” said Sherry Brooks, a flight nurse.
Each AW139 cost $14.2 million, with an additional $2 million spent on the medical interior. The machines were paid for entirely through donor support, including a $26.5-million fundraising campaign, the largest in STARS history. The existing BK117 helicopters will continue to be used as backup aircraft.
Health Minister Fred Horne, who spoke at the helicopter’s unveiling, said Alberta Health Services medevac operations will move from the Edmonton City Centre Airport to the same space as the STARS base, at the Edmonton International Airport, in early 2013.
It will allow for a “closely integrated approach to the transfer of patients,” Horne said.
“It’s pretty exciting that AHS’s air ambulance program will be working here. We hope that with proximity we’ll be doing a lot of training together and working together more,” said Corinne Edwards, STARS base director.
For former STARS patient Marg Kenny, 62, the arrival of the new machine is exciting.
“It is just wonderful that Alberta has this new helicopter and that we can save more lives quicker and faster,” Kenny said.
Kenny’s life was saved almost three years ago, when she was flown to hospital by a STARS helicopter after a “horrific truck accident” in early 2010.
The truck she was driving from Camrose to Edmonton went backward and fell about 200 feet down a steep embankment.
Kenny, who has no memory of the accident, had to be removed from the truck with the Jaws of Life. An EMS worker climbed into the truck and kept Kenny warm, using her own body heat, until she could be freed.
“My chain of survival was both a miracle and a tremendous credit to the professional service of the men and women in Alberta’s first emergency response critical care teams,” Kenny said.