STARS Air Ambulance has attended approximately 30 missions in southeastern Manitoba since 2014 and about 100 since 2011. With bases in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, southeastern Manitoba accounts for approximately 15% of their total missions.

Just two of STARS dedicated crew members.Steinbach alone has seen STARS attend 12 missions since 2014 and 47 since 2011, which is the second highest in western Canada.  The highest call rate is in Morden with STARS attending 5 missions since 2014 and 63 since 2011.

Flight Physician Doug Martin says he feels the service is invaluable to rural patients because the time it takes to get a patient to the hospital is associated to their survival.  He adds, as an emergency team, they want to transport the patient to a hospital as quickly as possible and the best vehicle for that is a helicopter.

"If you were so unlucky as to be involved in a car accident; the crew would probably respond without me because they don't want to wait for me, they want to be airborne in ten minutes and be on their way.  They would fly to the scene, they would work with local EMS and fire to get you out of the vehicle and stabilized.  They would load you up and begin the trip into Winnipeg," explains Martin when asked what the process is for STARS from the time an accident happens to the time the patient is in the hospital.  "Meanwhile, I would be involved from the standpoint of hearing about your vital signs and determining that this was a good mission for the helicopter to attend.  I would provide them (the STARS crew) with an update as to your information on their way out.  They would discuss you with me once they had assessed you and I would be involved in decisions about what stabilizing measures to take.  I would be talking with Health Science Centre that you were coming and what your projected needs were." 

Martin adds with reasonable frequency they also send blood along when they suspect the patient to be severely injured with possible internal bleeding.

STARS survivor Miranda Lanouette and her mom Brenda Main.Miranda Lanouette, who lives in Ste. Anne, was rescued by STARS after a quad accident near Woodridge in June 2011.  Lanouette celebrated her 29th birthday on Friday, May 22 and says if it hadn't been for STARS, she wouldn't have had the opportunity to celebrate with her parents, husband and two children who are now nine and seven years old.

Lanouette explains she feels ground ambulance crews do a great job but there are circumstances where they can't get there in time.  She adds STARS was able to land within 100 feet of her location, fly her to the Winnipeg airport in 20 minutes and then she was transported by ground ambulance to Health Science Centre in 20 minutes. 

"The crew was amazing, they kept me so calm and collected. I was so scared and I panicked a little bit because I couldn't feel anything.  The minute I hit the ground I was instantly paralyzed," Lanouette notes she broke C6, the sixth cervical vertebrae in the neck. "Every second counts in a situation like that and I was very thankful they were there.  Even if you don't have an accident, in everyday life we're always looking for another minute in the day.  This is just another example, you're looking for that extra time, that expertise. When you're at your worst, you need the best and that's the best you can get.  You can't put a price on somebody's life."