STARS approaches the new Jim Pattison Children's Hospital heliport on July 25, 2019. (Keenan Sorokan/650 CKOM)

By Keenan Sorokan

Sask Heliport

New heliport at Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital opens

Jul 26, 2019 | 9:32 AM

A new heliport atop of Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital in Saskatoon opened ahead of schedule on Thursday.

The new helipad is Saskatchewan’s second rooftop helipad, the other is at the Regina General Hospital.

At a demonstration, members of STARS and the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) were ecstatic when thinking about what it means for critical emergency care in Saskatchewan.

Cindy Seidel, STARS’ provincial director in Saskatchewan and flight nurse, said she was “jumping with excitement” when the organization’s helicopter put the new landing spot to use for an emergency Thursday, a day after the site received certification by Transport Canada.

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“It was pretty emotional,” she said. “We’ve (SHA and it’s regional predecessor Saskatoon Health Region) all had a common goal of achieving this rooftop heliport, and it’s just a reality. I couldn’t be happier or prouder of the work that’s happened here.”

Having the helipad operational is expected to transform critical emergency care in the province, especially in Saskatoon, with the Royal University Hospital’s adult emergency department moving to the new children’s hospital when it opens in the fall.

“This is truly an opportunity for us to be patient-first,” Seidl said. “Certainly, to be able to land on the rooftop and deliver that patient to the level of high-quality care that they’re going to receive from this tertiary care centre here at RUH is just a game-changer for our patients in the province.”

Opening the helipad ahead of schedule was a direct result of consultation with people involved in the immediate care following the code orange declared after the Humboldt Broncos bus crash on April 6.

“The feedback that we had from the physicians, and the clinical teams, (was) if we could open this helipad early, that would cut those precious moments of transportation down, and be easier on the patients that we serve.

“This morning was the beginning of the new era of landing the helicopters for trauma care and emergency care here on the hospital.”

A new children’s emergency department will also open at the hospital this fall.

STARS transports about 300 patients to RUH each year, and Seidl said that at least 15 minutes will be saved using this new heliport when compared to previous care.

Until Thursday, STARS had to land at a helipad near Innovation Place on the University of Saskatchewan campus, where an ambulance would be waiting, so they could deliver the patient and begin the admission process.

That previous transportation process took up to 25 minutes. The SHA is optimistic that could be reduced to about three minutes when the new emergency departments open.

In advance of the opening, staff have been conducting mock moves from the heliport to both the existing emergency department at RUH, and the new emergency departments at the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital.