Update
This story was updated March 23, 2023, with quotes from Andrea Robertson and Alanna Hnatiw.
Sturgeon County will fly to the rescue of people across Alberta now that its logo has been emblazoned on a STARS air ambulance helicopter.
Sturgeon County officials were at the STARS base in Edmonton March 23 to unveil the county’s logo on the hull of one of the group’s new H145 helicopters in recognition of the county contributing more than $500,000 to the organization since 2006.
STARS is a well-known air ambulance service whose red-and-white helicopters can often be seen ferrying patients to hospitals across the Prairies. According to a media release, STARS flew some 3,515 missions in the Prairies last year, 22 of which were in Sturgeon County.
Sturgeon County is the first community in central Alberta to have donated more than $500,000 to STARS, having chipped in $550,234 to the group since 2006, and the first central-Alberta community to have its logo on a STARS helicopter
This was a massive and an amazing contribution from a municipality, STARS president Andrea Robertson said in an interview. Municipalities provide about half of the cash STARS needs to operate.
“This level of support keeps us in the air,” she said.
Robertson said this particular helicopter should spend most of its time in the greater Edmonton region but could be dispatched to anywhere in western Canada.
“We hope everyone in Sturgeon County feels a sense of pride when you see your logo on the helicopter, knowing that you are helping us save lives,” she said in the media release.
In an interview, Sturgeon County Mayor Alanna Hnatiw said the county started supporting STARS in around 2005 when Alberta Health Services took over ambulance services to the region. Then-fire chief Bart Clark proposed council take the money it used to spend on volunteer ambulance services and give it to STARS — a practice that the county has maintained ever since. The county now gives the group about $50,000 in support a year.
“We’re proud of 15 years of contribution for such a valuable service for rural and remote communities,” Hnatiw said, adding that she encouraged all rural municipalities to support STARS.
