Registering land with STARS air ambulance could help people living in the County of Grande Prairie. Last year, STARS was called to nearly 4000 sites in the province. Senior Municipal Relations Liaison for Alberta Glenda Farnden says having those sites pre-registered can really help give pilots the information they need.
“It gives exact location information so we already have that readily available. Especially in a high trauma incident, people can forget, you get very flustered and you can turn things around. In those respects, it’s nice to be well prepared ahead of time when you’ve already registered your site.”
The program was originally started to help workers in the oil and gas industry in the event of an accident. It is now opened to farmers, ranchers and those hosting events like rodeos or races. Farnden says that once a site is registered, a sign will be posted on the lot with a number that people can give to 911 in the event of an emergency.
“If there happens to be a public incident or motor vehicle collision or anything like that…they can call 911 and give this landing site number that would be posted…and then we already have all of the location information within our records.”
Temporary site registration is $6 dollars a day or $150 a year to register permanently. People wanting to register can call STARS emergency link centre at 1-888-888-4567.