WINNIPEG — The long awaited, long delayed rooftop helipad at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre is finally within weeks of opening, according to officials connected to the project. It will be the first of its kind for the province.
“The City of Winnipeg as well as HSC are working to do one last safety test that proves all the systems are working. And then at that point we’d get an occupancy permit,” said Heliport Manager Craig Doerksen.
It comes two and a half years after the date the province first pegged the helipad to open. When former NDP Health Minister Theresa Oswald first announced Manitoba’s first health facility helipad was coming to Winnipeg, it was slated to open in 2014.
After multiple delays officials believe they’re close, expecting to have it ready for use by the end of October. Doerksen admits there have been challenges from the beginning.
“The project had challenges from the initial fire in March of 2013 that caused delays and there were just other challenges of construction that have carried on through the project,” said Doerksen. “But we’ve been able to work with everybody and get over all of those challenges.”
When the helipad opens, it will shave crucial life-saving moments off of calls responded to by STARS Air Ambulance. The flight crew is currently forced to land with critical patients at one of two separate sites several kilometers away from HSC and St. Boniface. The helipad is expected to trim the length of a call by up to 30 minutes.
Once open, the helicopter will be able to land and off-load patients into a specially designed elevator that will move them directly down to the emergency room at HSC.
Last year alone, STARS responded to 568 calls. Of those, patients were air lifted to Winniepg in 335 of them.
This will be the first for Manitoba, but they’re pretty common elsewhere.
Ontario has 86 helipads, Saskatchewan has three. There are 66 in Alberta and while British Columbia has 32 helipads.
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