Brandt Tractor a Hero for H.E.R.O.S.
Ted Clarke and Roberta Squire of H.E.R.O.S. accept cheque from Brandt Tractor Management and Staff – photo 250News
Prince George, B.C.- The Helicopter Emergency Rescue Operations Society (H.E.R.O.S.) has just received a $10 thousand dollar cash infusion towards the goal of securing an emergency helicopter service for Prince George.
H.E.R.O.S. is pushing to have a heli-pad constructed at the University Hospital of Northern B.C. ( the old one was decommissioned) and a dedicated emergency Helicopter with specially trained attendants, serve the Prince George area.
H.E.R.O.S. says this kind of emergency service could save lives, as a trained team and dedicated helicopter can save critical minutes from the time an accident occurs, to the time treatment is received.
(At right, the time frames associated with getting a person to Prince George for treatment via emergency helicopter map courtesy H.E.R.O.S.)
“The safety of our people, whether they are at work or playing, is of utmost importance” says Foji Dhansaw, Brandt Tractor’s division manager for Northern B.C.
The donation is a start, but there is still a long, long way to go.
With a capital plan of $6 million dollars which includes the cost of a fully outfitted chopper, hangar, heli-pad, and annual operating costs of $4.5 million, H.E.R.O.S. Director, Roberta Squire says there is much work to be done. She says the community has been very generous in responding with in kind donations valued at about $300 thousand dollars and H.E.R.O.S. is very grateful for that help, but the cash donations have not yet reached the six figure mark.
Squire says it seems that when Prince George wants something it has to come as the result of a groundswell from the community “The University, the Cancer Centre, the Northern Medical Program, all a result of the community speaking up loud and clear.” There are emergency Helicopter services serving Prince Rupert, Grande Prairie and Fort McMurray, and Squire asks “Why not Prince George?”
Brandt Tractor’s Dhansaw says he hopes this cash donation will be a kickstart to donations from other companies working in the North .
Comments
This is a needed service that many people support however getting people engaged is a whole other story sadly
The “Golden Hour”, this starts from the point of injury to the point where effective medical assistance can be rendered (we are not talking about first aid attendants or paramedics assistance, this is when they get to a hospital where decisive medical aid can be rendered). The longer it takes to get a seriously injured person to the hospital, the survival rate drops almost exponentially. So being able to air medivac a person to a critical care facility is very very important. Quicker is always better when the “hour” comes into play.
BC taxpayers fund helicopter ambulance services in the lower mainland as well as other places I’m sure. I bet Kelowna has this service. Why not here?
I don’t see this happening. Healthcare is a provincial responsibility. You’re never going to be able to raise $4.5 million a year to operate this service in Northern BC. On your site you throw facts out there like you could make a business case, but fall short of developing a business case model for the Prince George area. I’m sure I know why – it wouldn’t pay. As horribly cynical as that is to write, I’d be willing to bet it’s probably true. There wouldn’t be enough payback to make it worth the taxpayers’ while to put investment in healthcare dollars there.
Working, playing and driving in the great white north can be extremely dangerous. You have to weight that against going out there. Chances are good if you get seriously injured, you’re going to die or be severely disabled. That’s life as most people know it. It’s only people in rich countries that think they can actually insulate themselves from life. To spend millions annually to improve the outcomes for a handful of people just doesn’t make sense. Sorry.
But it’s just fine for those on the other side of Hope is it Sine?
It is all good saying we need this service but until we get it we still lose friends and family every year which would still be here if we had it.
Last winter was dissgusting, seemed every week we lost people around Prince George. I stopped traveling to Vanderhoof for 8 weeks because twice I started the drive and was turned around because of a serious accidents. Later I would hear someone died.
If they lost as many lives in Vancouver, there would have been an inquiry, but they don’t because an air ambulance comes and saves their lives. We seem to get oh they live in the north so no big deal. Personally I think we have lost enough friends and family.
Thank you Brandt Tractor for your donation to a worthy cause.
By the way. Be careful out there it is slippery today.
I think that most people would agree that this rescue service is wanted, and needed for our region.
Sine makes a case from the government’s point of view, that the service would not be utilized often enough so “its not worth the investment” That opinion appears to suggest that if you don’t want to chance being injured in a remote area you should stay in the city. SO it follows then that you should not travel on Provincial highways for work or family reasons as well?
I say that point of view is rubbish, and should be ignored.
Although we do not have the same population base as the lower mainland, we are all tax payers, and deserve equal services on par with the more populated areas.
I would welcome a tax that was directly applied to this service, why not .01 cent per litre of fuel sold? But applied directly into an operating budget for helicopter rescue, not paid into general revenue.
metalman.
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