STARS seeks standing $13,000 contribution
STARS is asking Crowsnest Pass council to establish a standing $13,000 contribution to the air ambulance service, which reports flying 68 missions within the municipality from 2021 through 2025.
The request appears in the annual update prepared for council’s Sept. 29 meeting by Jackie Seely, STARS donor relations and development officer. The presentation identifies the municipality’s 2026 contribution as $13,000, equivalent to $2.28 per resident, and recognizes its support dating back to 1992.
The proposed standing contribution would match that amount, providing continuing municipal support for a service that relies on donations and fundraising for a majority of its direct operating costs in Alberta.
Hospital transfers accounted for most of the local missions in the five-year report. STARS recorded 59 critical transfers from the Blairmore hospital, out of the total of 68 missions within municipal boundaries.
The remaining nine were recorded near Blairmore, Coleman and Hillcrest Mines. The report assigns scene calls and search-and-rescue activity to the nearest community, using the actual mission location to determine whether an occurrence falls within Crowsnest Pass.
Annual totals varied from seven missions in 2024 to 22 in 2023. STARS recorded 10 local missions in 2025, including eight hospital transfers, one mission near Coleman and one near Hillcrest Mines.
The presentation also outlines the financial role of community support. For the 2025-26 fiscal year, STARS lists $38.4 million in direct Alberta operating costs, with $15.6 million in provincial government contributions and $22.8 million from donations, fundraising and its lottery.
That puts the share supported through donations, fundraising and lottery proceeds at 59 per cent, according to STARS.
Aviation accounts for the largest portion of those direct operating costs, at 41 per cent, followed by clinical services at 35 per cent. Base operations and administration account for 18 per cent, with the remaining six per cent attributed to the STARS Emergency Link Centre.
The service describes its H145 helicopter as an intensive care unit equipped to provide treatment during transport. Its presentation highlights equipment including a ventilator, a hand-held blood analyzer and a mechanical chest-compression system. STARS says patients are not charged for its service.
For 2026, the local mission count stood at three as of Sept. 22: two transfers between health facilities and one scene call near Coleman.