Rise Air отметила 30-летие партнерства с племенем Ла-Ронж и объявила о новой благотворительной пожертвовании

Rise Air celebrates their 30th year anniversary of their partnership with Lac La Ronge Indian Band in providing critical medevac services to isolated communities in northern Saskatchewan. On Aug. 26, First Nations dignitaries from La Ronge and PAGC, Rise Air personnel, and Saskatchewan Government officials came together to celebrate the anniversary and announce a donation to an upcoming project that will further strengthen the partnership and wellbeing of those who reside in northern Saskatchewan. “If we look at the north of the province, aviation has been that enduring factor that really connects communities, provides support and ensures that there is hope and opportunity for people,” said Dan Gold, Rise Air Director of Marketing, and Stakeholder Relations. The relationship between La Ronge EMS and Rise Air is a longstanding one, that has provided a northern Air Ambulance for 30 years to over 30,000 patients needing medical evacuation or transportation to other medical services that cannot be accessed in the far north areas of the province. Communities such as Southend have limited road access, and other communities such as Fond du Lac and Camsell Portage do not have road access at all. This creates large barriers in all aspects of northern Saskatchewan life, including accessing medical care. “Where there are roads into the north, the distances are so vast that it can affect the positive outcomes that medical intervention can provide,” Gold said. “Travelling by air essentially is crucial, quicker, and it gets people where they need to be in a timely fashion. If you’re looking at an ambulance going by road versus a medevac, if you’re tying up an ambulance for, let’s say a 12 hour journey, and then getting people back home or going on the following visit, (that’s) 24 hours of tying up ambulances, the responsible thing to do is to resort to using aircraft.” Despite travelling via fixed wing aircraft being essential, challenges were still prominent in the process. In Camsell Portage, a gravel runway only allowed Twin Otter planes to land in the community. The one way trip from the community to larger cities down south was about 4 hours, depending on the destination and case. “What we’ve done is we’ve really spent the time to understand the needs of the province and the real challenges of the province as the geography presents to us,” Gold said. Last year, Rise Air announced they were investing seven million dollars into a new Pilatus PC-21 Aircraft that is able to land in the community, as well as cut travel time in half. The new aircraft is also equipped with an X-lift that helps reduce potential patient and EMS staff injuries. “That X-Lift system is capable of carrying patients or boarding patients,” Gold explained. “So helping them load automatically with a mechanized lift system to pull patients on their gurney directly onto the aircraft that can lift up to one thousand pounds. That piece alone means that Saskatchewan doesn’t need to go to Alberta to request their bariatric plane. That lift mechanism also mean that any potential injuries towards whether it’s flight staff or medical personnel, in trying to help lift the patient onboard up the narrow stairs, is completely eliminated.” The event on August 26, was in celebration of not only the 30 year anniversary of the partnership, but also in appreciation of all of the people such as pilots and medical staff, who have made the medevac service available for northern patients throughout the past three decades. The event consisted of speeches from Lac La Ronge Indian Band COO Blake Charles, PAGC Vice-Chief Joseph Tsannie, Provincial Secretary and Member of the Legislative Assembly Jamie Martens, Parliament Member Buckley Belanger Secretary of State for Rural Development, and Rise Air CEO Derek Nice. Gold then followed the speeches with Rise Air’s 42,000 dollar donation announcement to La Ronge’s Long Term Care Facility in partnership with Athabasca Basin Development. La Ronge and Area Long Term Care Committee Member Jacob Page gave a short statement in response to the donation. “This is a big development for La Ronge,” Gold said. “This is a big development for healthcare in the north, and we are honoured to be in the position that we were able to make the donation and continue these medevac services to get people where they need to be to get positive outcomes.” [email protected]