By Brittney Matejka

AHS has a plan for air ambulance service while the Medicine Hat Airport is under construction

Feb 5, 2018 | 4:48 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB. – The Medicine Hat Airport will undergo runway construction leaving many people wondering what will happen to air ambulance services during the closure.

Darren Sandbeck, EMS Chief Paramedic for Alberta Health Services, said they do have a plan in place for the period of time the Medicine Hat Airport runway will be unavailable.

“Non-urgent patient transfers will be done by ground out of Medicine Hat,” he said. “More urgent transfers that still need aircraft will be done by moving the patient to the Bow Island Airport, where they will meet the aircraft and fly on from there.”

Sandbeck said although Medicine Hat Airport’s runway will be under construction, helicopters will still be able to take off and land.

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“Critical patients who require movement will be done by STARS between Medicine Hat and Calgary,” he said.

CanWest Air was contracted by Alberta Health Services (AHS) to begin providing Air Ambulance Service to Medicine Hat on April 1, 2018. Sandbeck said CanWest will be able to continue with their service from the Bow Island Airport.

“The airport in Bow Island has a suitable runway length for the type of aircraft we use for the air ambulance program,” he said.

Sandbeck said critical patients will be transported by STARS Air Ambulance and not CanWest Air or Halo Medivac rescue.

“STARS ability to fly faster and provide critical patient treatments in the air was the deciding factors for us,” he said.

AHS has had to develop alternate air ambulance service plans in other municipalities facing airport construction, Sandbeck explained.

“This is not uncommon for us,” he said. “Airports undergo maintenance from time to time, (we) develop contingency plans to work around that.”

CHAT News reached out to CanWest Air for an interview, but they declined the request.