STARS air ambulance caused a stir when the larger helicopter unit was dispatched from Saskatoon for an inter-hospital transfer from Preeceville on August 20. The ambulance landed at the Maple Farm Equipment location.
The Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (STARS) is a non-profit helicopter air ambulance organization funded by individual donors, service groups, corporate donors and government contributions. STARS provides rapid and specialized emergency care and transportation for critically ill and injured patients.
STARS operates from bases in Calgary, Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Regina and Saskatoon. STARS was formed in Calgary, Alta. to provide emergency medical care and transport to the critically ill and injured after founder Dr. Gregory Powell, who was working as an emergency room physician at the time, lost a patient: a young mother who died en route to the hospital because of the time it took to transport her by ground ambulance from her rural home.
Powell had worked as a physician on Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) units during the Vietnam War and knew that a helicopter ambulance service could mean the difference between life and death for critical patients who needed immediate assistance and were not near a major trauma centre.
He created a non-profit organization, the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Services Foundation, to provide helicopter rescue and transport in and around Calgary.
The local Lions Club provided seed money. The Foundation created its working arm, Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (STARS), which carried out its first mission on December 1, 1985. Since then, more than 24,000 missions have been carried out.
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