Earlier this spring STARS Foundation received a $21,000 grant from the Brandon Area Community Foundation (BACF).  The funds went to purchase human patient simulator to assist in training their air ambulance medical staff.

"It's certainly humbling for us to see that level of support coming from the Brandon Area Community Foundation, so we're thrilled," shares Provincial Director for Manitoba Operations, and Critical Care Paramedic, Grant Therrien. "As you know STARS was built by the community for the community, and we would not be able to save lives every day without the ongoing support we receive like from the BACF."

"It's an honor for our team to serve Manitobans and to do the work that we do," notes Therrien. "We've got a very dedicated group of paramedics, nurses, pilots, engineers, you name it we've got it. It's a great team that is highly trained and highly proficient in what they do."

The STARS Foundation raises money to support innovation and training to the next level.  The BACF grant was used to purchase a life-like mannequin to further the training of their paramedics.  "Certainly, this level of technology does not come cheap and so to have donations come through the door through the STARS Foundation like this one certainly helps keep our training top-notch and allows us to have the tools that we need to provide this excellent training."

Please listen to more with Grant Therrien below!

The STARS team brings a higher level of care in order to transport a patient who would be considered to be a patient in the Intensive Care Unit

"The STARS helicopter provides critical care which means the nurse, the paramedic, and sometimes a physician on board brings you an ICU level of care," he explains. "So, they're bringing what you would normally find in a larger centre, they're bringing that expertise, that equipment, that technology to where the patient is, whether that's anywhere a person has called 911 or if they end up in one of the hospitals in rural Manitoba, we will respond there if someone requires critical care transport."

"So, it is one of the higher levels of care, and something that we certainly pride ourselves in," he adds.

"We also like to say that we're just one link in the chain of survival, right?  It starts with that person who called 911, or it starts with the doctors and nurses in the hospitals who provide that initial care.  And then we work alongside paramedics, firefighters, police officers, so we're just that one piece that provides the critical care aspect and also the rapid transport if you require a transport back to an urban tertiary care centre, that's typically where we'll bring you."