Winnipeg – They are called in a crisis, and have saved 29 thousand lives. STARS air ambulance began in 1985 as a volunteer based service, helping rescue people in distress.
“A group of very dedicated physicians came together and said ,we need to do this for rural Canada,” Andrea Robinson from STARS said Saturday.
STARS air ambulance celebrated 30 years of service Saturday, and to mark the occasion,they opened their doors to the public.
In the past year, the not for profit organization responded to 3,000 calls. Saving people like Steven Lipischak, who was rescued in 2013 from his cottage near Lac Du Bonnet.
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” I got up on the ladder, which I shouldn’t have, i was reaching over too far, and i fell and hit the concrete pads,” Lipischak explained.
The ground ambulance was called from Lac Du Bonnet, but the transport to a Winnipeg hospital would have been too long, that’s when STARS was dispatched.
” If you asked all the people that helped and survived , you know it’s vital. Ff we lose it, we’ll lose a lot of people,” Lipischak said.
On Saturday, Lipischak went on a helicopter flight, the same vessel that saved him in 2013.
To mark STARS 30th anniversary, pilots, paramedics and nurses who fly shared their experiences with the public. As were other STARS patients.
” I heard the helicopter, they flew within a 100 feet of me, and they had me up in the air in no time and I was the airport in 20 minutes and completely taken care of,” This ATV crash survivor explained.
The organization is travelling across Manitoba this summer, raising awareness and money to keep the service running.
“When we fly, it tends to be the worst day in someone’s life and we take that pretty seriously,” Robinson said Saturday.
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