The Ste. Anne General Hospital Fund began the initial groundwork on a new STARS helipad in the area last week.

The Fund’s Executive Director, Lorraine Roziere states that the hospital's new helipad will be a major convenience not only for the people of Ste. Anne, but for any incidents requiring STARS attention all the way to the Ontario border.

“We are hoping to be up and running by November,” says Roziere. She notes the building of the helipad itself should only take five to six weeks, however, before it is usable, two things need to happen. First, medical and response crews will need to be trained to use the helipad. Second, the project needs the final approval of Transport Canada saying it adheres to necessary standards. Roziere mentions that Transport Canada closed down Ste. Anne’s original helipad in 2017 due to it no longer meeting these building standards.

Roziere is excited that the General Hospital Fund was able to get this project underway so promptly: “we’ve done some research, we’ve got the site assessed, now let’s give this service back to the Ste. Anne Community,” she exclaims.