Four decades of critical care are being celebrated with the official launch of the 2025 STARS Calendar.
The President and CEO of STARS Air Ambulance says it is their 40th anniversary, and the calendar is in its 32nd year.
According to Katherine Emberly, this marks 10 years of Viterra supporting the calendar and sponsoring it. She adds, Viterra has given $2.5 million dollars to help support the program during the past decade and together with STARS they have raised almost $6 million dollars through those calendars. Emberly says “they are a terrific partner and they really serve the agriculture and remote and rural communities. We are so fortunate. The agriculture community, wholly, has really supported STARS. Their customers are our communities that we serve, so it is a great partnership across the board.”
Emberly points out that the 2025 STARS Calendar revisits Very Important Patients (VIPs) and STARS medical crews that have been featured in previous editions of it, highlighting where they are now and how their journeys have evolved. She says “every story is beautiful. Today we were so lucky to have a very lovely young lady who her family had an accident on their farm when she was just a young four year old and today she is doing fantastic in school and she is 12 years old going into Grade 7. So she came and shared her story with us today. But it is those things, when a family shares a story, those accidents that you just never think will happen to you and when they do, being able to call STARS can really change the outcome of that individual.”
See the stories online at stars.ca. The calendars are available for purchase there as well, or you can get them at Viterra locations.
Emberly notes the funds from the calendar will provide their everyday operating dollars to keep them in the air.
STARS rolled out a fleet renewal program a couple of years ago, and she is pleased with the results of that campaign. Emberly says “fantastic, we have been able to fully renew the STARS fleet. So we have ten helicopters that have all been funded by government and the community.”
STARS runs across the three prairies provinces with helicopter bases in six cities – Calgary, Edmonton, Grand Prairie, Regina, Saskatoon, and Winnipeg.
Listen to 96.5 CKFM’s Community Hotline conversation with Katherine Emberly.