STARS top doctor in city to raise mission awareness

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This article was published 11/04/2024 (926 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Co-ordination was key in the response to the deadly Carberry bus crash last year, the chief medical officer for STARS Air Ambulance says.

Dr. John Froh, in town for this week’s Association of Manitoba Municipalities’ spring convention at Brandon’s Keystone Centre, said 20 personnel from STARS were mustered in response to the event during a Wednesday interview with the Sun.

STARS is a non-profit organization that providers critical care and medical transport services across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

It dispatched two helicopters to Carberry after the June 15 accident that claimed the lives of 17 people, one from its base in Winnipeg and the other from Regina. That included 13 health-care providers dispatched to help with the response at Brandon Regional Health Centre.

“The local first responders, the local paramedics, the local health-care facilities did an amazing job there,” Froh said. “We were part of a co-ordinated effort to provide care in an area that was pretty much overwhelmed with a number of casualties.”

In a mass casualty event in Manitoba, Froh said STARS’ involvement is provided through the Medical Transportation Coordination Centre, which is based out of Brandon.

As a non-profit, Froh said STARS is primarily funded through government contracts, but it also fundraises to supplement its resources.

“That is very important for us. It allows us to continue to push the boundary in terms of care, also to pivot when we need to,” Froh said. “We’re a much smaller organization and so that kind of ability to be nimble is also somewhat entrenched in our funding model.”

In order to work with STARS’ medical teams, Froh said their nurses and paramedics go through a 20-week-long academy training program to prepare. Factors they have to deal with in the air ambulances include changes in atmospheric pressure and altitude, noise, vibration and more.

Because of the nature of their work, STARS staff frequently deal with some of the sickest patients in the provinces they serve, Froh said.

The doctor said STARS has a presence at the convention to enhance municipalities’ awareness of what their organization does and how they connect into Manitoba’s health-care safety net.

Brandon, he said, is developing a greater footprint in Manitoba’s health-care system, and it’s important for STARS to develop relationships in the community.

A poster next to STARS’ booth in the trade show portion of the convention showed how many times the organizations had teams dispatched to various Manitoba municipalities in the 2022-23 fiscal year. In that time frame, STARS teams were sent to Brandon 40 times.

While he said STARS is buffered somewhat by a work culture where employees are unified in delivering their services, that doesn’t mean the organization is insulated from pressures that affect the rest of the health-care system.

“We are a not-for-profit charity,” Froh said. “We come from the community and we’re supported by the community and our government partners. Really, what it’s all about is being there for the next critically ill patient that needs us and that’s core to our mission. That’s why we exist.”

Froh’s keynote address on the second and final day of the convention is titled “Beyond Limits: Delivering Critical Care, Anywhere.”

That takes place at 2:15 p.m. in the Keystone Centre’s UCT Pavilion.

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