Though the construction phase of the Ste. Anne Hospital's new helipad has been completed, the site still awaits a few critical pieces before it is legally operational.
“What we need to do next is the certification,” states Executive Director of the Ste. Anne Hospital Fund Lorraine Roziere. She notes that after passing a pre-inspection earlier in the year, Transport Canada must return to the site and give their final approval before it can be used by STARS Air Ambulances.
“We’re hoping Transport Canada can do the final certification before the end of November," explains Roziere, “but at this point, we don’t have a date set. They are the ones’ who tell us when they are available to come down and do the final inspection.” Roziere mentions that the actual training of helicopter operators has already taken place, but adds that Transport Canada may still require a flight-path analysis for the area.
Provincial Base Director of STARS Grant Therrien says that the new helipad development in Portage La Prairie is awaiting much the same certification as the site in Ste. Anne. “We’re very excited about these projects and the ability to use them,” comments Therrien, “It will shorten our response time significantly by being able to land at these sites.”
Despite these few changes that still need to be made in Ste. Anne, Roziere says everybody is happy with the way things are shaping up. “It looks even better than we expected,” she exclaims, “Considering that the construction only began in August, the fact that it was done so efficiently in this short time is just amazing.”
Roziere does not expect the fact that the Ste. Anne Hospital recently cut its Emergency Room hours in half to dramatically hinder the effectiveness of STARS. She says their primary goal in the area will be inter-hospital transportation rather than 24/7 emergency landing.
Fri, Apr 26, 7:00 PM
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