A non-profit group hopes to launch a new helicopter air ambulance service in northern B.C. as soon as next summer.
Northern B.C. Helicopter Emergency Rescue Operations Society (H.E.R.O.S.) president Brent Marshall said the group needs to raise about $3 million through private donations and get a similar contribution from the province to get the service off the ground.
The goal is to have physicians on board the helicopters to provide immediate care to trauma victims and increase the survival rate of patients.
"This unit can take off within three to five minutes, land right where [the patients] are, doctor-led," Marshall said. "With a doctor on board it brings the emergency room to the patient."
Marshall and his group are modeling H.E.R.O.S after the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (STARS) in Alberta, which has been operating for more than two decades. Fundraising for the project will begin immediately, with Marshall looking for contributions from mining and logging companies who could benefit by having the proposed service in place.
"We've already done the business plan and we're currently trying to get the funds together to get our first helicopter," Marshall said.
Marshall cited figures showing the mortality rates for trauma victims in the region is significantly higher than other parts of the province. In the Lower Mainland, where helicopter air ambulance service is readily available, Marshall said only 12 per cent of trauma victims die before reaching the hospital, but in the north it's 75 per cent.
"We're the ones that need this service more than anyone else in the province, right now we're the last ones to get it," Marshall said. "We're going to forge ahead."
Marshall said the fundraising dollars will not only help the air ambulance service, but also the trauma care in general in the region.
"This isn't just about a helicopter," Marshall said. "The money we're raising is for all trauma care, so it will help improve the emergency room. You'll have faster response times, better trained people and better equipment at the hospital."
The provincial government has yet to provide funding, but Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Pat Bell is intrigued by the project and has pledged to work with his cabinet colleagues to find ways to make it work. He's encouraged by the plan to have a significant amount of the money raised privately.
"I think Prince George and the north has a history of developing solutions to problems it confronts," Bell said. "We did that with the Northern Medical Program and I think this is just another example."
In addition to securing funding, H.E.R.O.S will also need to reach a working agreement with the B.C. Ambulance Service. That could mean working around existing union agreements as well as contracts the ambulance service has with other providers.
Both Bell and Marshell believe such an agreement can be negotiated. In fact Marshall eventually sees H.E.R.O.S. providing air ambulance service across the province.
"Working with BC Ambulance Service, in conjunction with them, and with our private-public funding model, we feel we can offer a far better service and spend less taxpayer dollars," he said.
