STARS launches its 26th edition of lottery
When Marc Issler was flown to a Calgary hospital from Red Deer to receive treatment for a severe head injury, he says he was offered “a second start in life.”
The STARS air ambulance flight happened in June 1988, after he lost control of his vehicle on a road near his office and ended up in the Red Deer River, sustaining multiple injuries, including a fractured skull. He was taken by firefighters first to hospital in Red Deer, then by STARS to the Calgary General Hospital.
“The speed and the abilities and resources of the people on that STARS helicopter were there to give me the opportunity to stay alive,” Issler said.
He spoke about the incident at the launch of the 26th STARS Lottery on Thursday, which the society says is its largest fundraiser of the year.
Andrea Robertson, president and CEO of STARS, said the lottery has grown to the size that it now pays for operations at one of three bases in the province for an entire year.
“That’s fuelling the helicopter, that’s pilots in the front seat, that’s physicians, nurses, paramedics that are going to be there if you unfortunately need our assistance,” Robertson said.
She said STARS flies, on average, five times a day in Alberta.
“What I want people to think about when they go home with their lottery ticket is the next time we fly overhead, that you’re actually responsible for putting us up there,” Robertson said.
The lottery features 2,809 prizes, including three grand prize show homes in Calgary, Lethbridge and Edmonton.