Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Minister Ralph Goodale takes a tour of a STARS Air Ambulance helicopter following a federal funding announcement on March 28, 2019. (Jessie Anton/980 CJME)

By Jessie Anton

Feds formally announce $65M to help renew STARS fleet

Mar 29, 2019 | 11:07 AM

The federal government formally announced its plans to give STARS Air Ambulance $65 million towards five new helicopters Thursday.

However, before Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Minister Ralph Goodale’s speech could make it official at the Regina base, a trio of beeps signaling an inter-hospital transport in Swift Current put the event on pause.

“There could be no more graphic demonstration of what this service is all about and why so many people at all levels — including the Government of Canada — want to give STARS their greatest possible support,” Goodale told a couple dozen people in the crowd, after they watched the chopper take off.

In September 2016, Milt Mastad was inside a similar red helicopter after he split his pelvis while horseback riding on his ranch in southwest Saskatchewan, near Glentworth.

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He said hearing the hum of the propellers and the chopper rise into the sky nearly three years later was overwhelming.

“I don’t remember the helicopter from my flight just because of the state I was in,” Mastad said. “To actually be here and see it, I got hit with a lot of emotion — not necessarily thinking about myself, but thinking about the patient on the other end. We’ll never know who it is, but we know they’re having a very bad day and angels are on the way.”

The federal government’s investment means STARS now has the capacity to buy five new helicopters, allowing the non-profit to fully renew its nine-unit fleet. The provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta have already funded one helicopter each. A mixture of donations and sales from its current fleet will help the non-profit foot the $26-million bill for two more helicopters to complete it.

The fleet renewal is welcome news for Barry Tolmie, a STARS pilot and aviation base manager in Saskatoon.

He says, from the automation in the cockpit to the speed and range, the new helicopters will be life-changing.

“(The current helicopters) are old. It’s like driving a 30-year-old vehicle down the road, it takes a little more time to get it going; whereas the new ones, there’s modern technology and there are replacement parts if you need them,” Tolmie explained, adding in recent years companies have discontinued making parts for their helicopters.

“Take an old, old Mustang — a great machine — and then take a new Mustang for a drive, that’s what you’re getting.”

Throughout STARS Air Ambulance’s 34 years in operation, it has used mostly the same fleet of helicopters to respond to more 40,000 emergency missions across Western Canada.