ST. PAUL – County of St. Paul will continue its partnership with STARS Air Ambulance, increasing its annual contribution to a fixed rate of $14,000 for 2024 and 2025.
The County previously had a $2 per capita agreement with STARS, which equalled an annual contribution of about $13,000. Over 90 per cent of Alberta municipalities are partnered with STARS as of 2024.
Glenda Farnden, Senior Municipal Relations Liaison with STARS Air Ambulance, also provided some updates on STARS’ activities in Alberta and the St. Paul region during a delegation on March 26.
Farnden noted there are three STARS bases in the province, which roughly costs $30 million to operate on a full-time 24/7 basis. This does not include education, outreach, training, or administration costs.
Funding
STARS funding includes $15 million block funding from the provincial government, about $2.3 million from all supporting municipalities, $10 million raised from its annual STARS lottery, and $18 million collected from other fundraising efforts.
STARS is hoping to sign a 10-year agreement with Alberta Health Services (AHS) to help with costs.
The organization previously had a 10-year affiliation agreement with AHS, which included an extended agreement that expired four years ago in 2020. The extended agreement previously included a $5.5 million annual contribution to STARS.
Missions
In the St. Paul region, 46 missions were flown in 2023, an increase from 34 missions in 2022.
So far in 2024, seven missions have already been flown, according to Farnden. Most of the flights are due to critical inter-facility transfers (IFT) at the St. Paul Hospital, which averages about 26 missions per year.
Critical IFT is when critical patients are transferred by STARS to hospitals that can provide the necessary care, including transfers to Edmonton.
Since 2019, STARS averaged 43 missions per year in St. Paul, 60 per cent being critical IFT, and 40 per cent being scene calls.
Improvements
Farnden says there are always challenges when providing services, but STARS strives to continue improving. For example, the 10 new H145 helicopters it purchased last year – worth $150 million – are now operational across all its bases.
STARS is also more than a rapid transport, says Farnden. The STARS Emergency Link Centre (ELC), separately funded from operational costs, is integrated with all dispatch centres and resources. ELC uses precise mapping coordinates. It also dispatches HERO (Helicopter Emergency Response Organization) and HALO Air Ambulance.
HERO covers northeastern Alberta, while HALO covers southeastern Alberta.
“They received more than 36,000 emergency requests each year,” says Farnden.
Physician Transport
“We’re also now working closer with [AHS],” adds Farnden.
STARS has been named as a critical care provider in Alberta, which means they now have physicians available around the clock.
“They provide all medical and procedural guidance on every critical call, regardless of the mode of transport,” says Farnden.
Patients may be transported by ground or air, “But it's our transport physicians that will make all the determination for what care that patient is going to require at the receiving hospital,” explains Farnden.
This saves a lot of time throughout the whole process, because transport physicians are already making all the logistical arrangements like scheduling a neurosurgeon or a mandatory CAT scan for the patient, for example, while they are en route.
“There’s lots of different areas where we’re really expanding,” says Farnden.
Following discussions, County council thanked Farnden for the information.
Reeve Glen Ockerman believes STARS “really defines who we are as Albertans.”
“Lots of times, you see services cut... [but] you don’t see [STARS] cutting its service,” he says. Instead, services are being enhanced.
“So, the County has always felt proud to be partners,” says the reeve.
