HALO Air Ambulance partnered with Medicine Hat 911 for 'flight-following' function. Jayk Sterkenburg/CHAT News

By Jayk Sterkenburg

EMERGENCY SERVICES

Medicine Hat 911 dispatch new ‘flight-follower’ for HALO air ambulance

Apr 15, 2025 | 4:48 PM

Medicine Hat 911 now functions as HALO Air Ambulance’s official flight-following team, ensuring every mission is tracked in real-time.

This will provide oversight the City of Medicine Hat said “prioritizes safety and swift action.”

HALO chief executive Paul Carolan said flight-following has always been a capability of the air ambulance but in a less conventional way.

“Dispatchers are the unsung heroes,” he said.

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The 911 dispatch team, a division of Medicine Hat Fire and Emergency Services, announced a new partnership with HALO on Monday.

The partnership will strengthen southern Alberta’s emergency response capabilities.

Flight-following is a critical function that involves monitoring the real-time location, flight status and environmental conditions of an aircraft, ensuring timely responses to any unforeseen issues.

The support is vital for HALO, which responds to emergencies ranging from medical scene calls and patient transfers to aerial fire reconnaissance and search and rescue operations.

Carolan said HALO wants to make sure crews are safe and protected.

“By having professional dispatchers back here able to follow the helicopters, track it on satellite, and implement any interventions if they’re needed,” he said.

“Obviously that’s what they do for a living- is take care of people who are out in the field doing the work,” he added.

“We’re grateful to have this partnership in place where those professionally trained people can monitor the aircraft at all times when it’s on mission.”

From left to right, HALO chief executive office Paul Carolan and emergency line superintendent Stacy Smith. Courtesy/Medicine Hat Fire and Emergency Services

Carolan said both HALO aircraft have satellite tracking systems that dispatchers can monitor with a live GPS feed.

He said the partnership with 911 dispatchers better formalizes the process of flight-following.

The City of Medicine Hat said the partnership exemplifies how collaboration between agencies strengthens public safety, ensuring southern Alberta is prepared for any emergency.

Emergency line superintendent Stacy Smith said the opportunity opens up interoperability between the county of Forty Mile, Redcliff, Medicine Hat and HALO.

She said all of the partners can now see where HALO is at all times.

“How that works in interoperability is that it allows all of these systems to get the same information at the same time, and it allows everybody to work together,” she said.

“The way it would work before is when you have two or three different agencies that are all resources for one event, it can be a little choppy,” she added.

“You end up having to make a lot of calls, and you end up having to work with different CAD systems, but now everybody works together. We’re all one agency, we’re all one response.”

Smith said the partnership will ensure everyone gets a faster resource, with all agencies now being able to work together as a team.