STARS air ambulance saw a slight decrease in calls to southeastern Manitoba last year. But base director Grant Therrien adds the numbers were very close to those in 2016.

"It was not a big change, the numbers are still high. We went from 87 missions in 2016 to 78 missions. So it was just a small change but still a significant amount of missions in that region. The mix in terms of a scene call versus an inter-facility transfer are very similar year-to-year, so not a lot of change there."

Provincewide, Therrien says the number of calls was up 14 per cent last year to 696.

"This was somewhat expected for us in how we set up the program in 2011. We anticipated our mission numbers would be somewhere between 600 and 800 and that's where they are at this point. We still think that there's room for a bit more growth on the mission-volume front. That'll depend on the evolution of some programs that we're working on right now."

He notes the main reason for the big increase last year is the helipad at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg which has greatly improved their efficiency.

"Prior to the helipad we would spend a significant amount of time in ground ambulances in Winnipeg, going back and forth from the airport to the hospital and back. Now, if you take that out of the equation, we're seeing more time where the helicopter is in service. We're now available for the next call, so it's not uncommon for the helicopter to drop off a patient at Health Sciences and then be paged out for another call immediately."

Therrien says the numbers are still very manageable for a single helicopter operation.

"They still fall within what we projected for a jurisdiction of this population, between the 600 and 800 mission mark. That's well serviced by one helicopter. If you compare it across western Canada, we have five other bases across Saskatchewan and Alberta and Winnipeg's base sits among the top three bases for mission volume. Other busy bases are Calgary and Edmonton which have similar numbers to Winnipeg."

STARS Manitoba currently operates with a staff of 38 people including ten pilots, eight paramedics, eight nurses, ten physicians and two engineers.