STARS won’t fly until 2012

It will be some time yet before anyone sees emergency response helicopters –or the STARS program as it is known — in Saskatchewan's sky.

The STARS program, which was announced by the government in the spring, won't be up and running until the fall of 2012.

The helicopters are in addition to the fixed wing air ambulance fleet and can respond to traumas outside of city centres in a more timely and effective way.

It will cost between $16 and $18 million dollars a year to run, but the man in charge, MLA Rod Gantefoer, says that won't all be funded by the government.

“$6,000,000 to $8,000,000 would be raised by the corporate and private sector through various fundraising initiatives and somewhere in the $9,000,000 to $10,000,000 would be the contribution by government.”

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The other issue is building landing pads at the new Children's Hospital in Saskatoon and a within the parking lot at the General Hospital in Regina, as currently no helipads exist at the major hospitals.

The helicopters are in addition to the fixed wing air ambulance fleet but can respond to traumas outside of city centres in a more timely and effective way.

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