With this fourth wave of the pandemic, STARS Air Ambulance has been frequenting the skies of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Inter-facility transfers for the organization have jumped from 11 per cent of missions to 21 per cent of missions.

Chief Medical Officer of STARS Air Ambulance, J.N Armstrong says those transfers have been unusual but necessary to help alleviate pressures on ICU's in the prairies.

“We wouldn't normally go to like for example like Lacombe to Red Deer, or Camrose to Red Deer, or even on one case, we went to Grand Prairie to Calgary. Normally, Grand Prairie will either go back to the Grand Prairie Hospital or Edmonton. We are seeing unusual mission profiles with COVID patients for what’s called low-leveling to try and level the loads in the ICU’s,” explained Armstrong.

On September 24, 2021 Stars Air Ambulance broke records transporting six COVID-19 patients in one day. Meanwhile, a lot of work and sanitization has to happen for even one COVID-19 mission.

“First and foremost, it’s all about safety. It's protecting the patient, protecting our crew, and operating safely. All of our crew has personal protective equipment, so masks, visors, gowns and so on, to protect themselves when, when they're handling anybody with an infectious illness, especially COVID. That takes a bit more time and effort. After the mission, the helicopter has to be completely decontaminated which can take up to about an hour. So, that adds even more workload to our to our Air Medical Group, so each COVID patient is significantly more work for our crew,” said Armstrong.

Although it is becoming less of an issue due to the change in seasons, wearing PPE on the helicopter during a warm day can also become very warm for the crews. It can also make communication a little more difficult.

Thankfully, throughout this fourth wave, the air ambulance has been able to keep a steady stream of staff.

“We've been able to maintain business operations in our clinical operations without any difficulty and to that, I really thank the vaccine.  Our members were all vaccinated very early in December and January and I think that has really helped to keep our folks up,” said Armstrong.

However, the organization remains busy providing further services to both the Alberta and Saskatchewan governments by providing a crew for an additional helicopter during times where there are high caseloads.

“We have done that and we've been able to do that within our own crew numbers that we have. We've been able to do that, as well as maintain our normal business operations and it's been hard work for our crews,” said Armstrong who added that he is very proud of the crews.  

In September, STARS Air Ambulance saw a total of 364 missions 77 of which were COVID-19 related. In September of 2020, the organization responded to 243 missions 19 of which were COVID-19 related.

Although things have been difficult for STARS for both missions and fundraising, Armstrong remains optimistic about the declining cases in Alberta. You can find more information or donate  to STARS Air Ambulance by clicking here.