Released on December 3, 2013
Final training and preparations are underway for the new heliport to be operational in December 2013. Construction began in May 2013 and was complete in November. It was inspected and certified in November by federal aviation regulator Transport
Canada. The helipad is 18 metres (59 feet) in diameter.
Once operational in mid-December 2013, the heliport will get patients to the care they need faster, eliminating the need for an ambulance ride from the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (STARS) base at Regina International Airp
ort. For patients in life-threatening situations, getting to a critical care team 15 minutes faster could be crucial.
The Ministry of Health provided $3.4 million to Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region for the cost of developing the heliport at Regina General Hospital (RGH).
A helipad, walkway and a secure rooftop entrance were built on the sixth-floor roof near the north end of the hospital. Improvements were also made to the service elevators that provide quick access to departments in the hospital.
Hospital staff are undergoing training to maintain and secure the helipad area, coordinate landings and patient transfers, and ensure safe operation of a federally-regulated aircraft landing site.
Patients being flown via the RGH heliport who are coming from, or headed to, the Pasqua Hospital will be transferred by road ambulance. Patients being transported by Saskatchewan’s Lifeguard fixed-wing air
ambulance service will continue to be transferred between the hospital and the airport by road ambulance.
STARS began operations in Regina in April 2012, providing air medical services for medical emergencies and inter-hospital patient transfers. STARS has been operating 24 hours a day: Regina since July 2012; Saskatoon since February 2013.
Based on usage patterns, STARS estimates it will fly more than 300 missions a year from its Regina base, with a significant number of those missions touching down at RGH.
Provincial funding is in place for a heliport on the roof of the new Children’s Hospital of Saskatchewan (opening in late 2016), adjacent to Royal University Hospital.