Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/10/2010 (4280 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
MANITOBA will move sooner rather than later to buy a helicopter air ambulance to fly critical patients in southern Manitoba to hospital in Winnipeg.
"We are looking at it," Health Minister Theresa Oswald this week. "It's under very active consideration."
The minister said she's heard that speculation is heating up now among doctors that the province is moving ahead soon, something on which Oswald wouldn't tip her hand.
"It's not just matter of going to Murray Chev Olds and buying one," the health minister said.
Buying a helicopter is the easy part. Paying to keep it running is the costly part.
"We have been looking at it quite aggressively since the flood two years ago," Oswald said.
Programs and services are essential components to have in place first, she said. Such as a helio pad.
Oswald said the likeliest location for a helicopter pad is the roof of the province's medical trauma centre, the Health Sciences Centre.
The province continues to pursue talks first reported last spring with Alberta-based Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (STARS), about a private foundation funding that goes into operating costs.