Calls to STARS Air Ambulance were down in December from previous months, ending off the year on a high note. STARS responded to 58 calls throughout the province in November, with 22 of them coming from south the south central region, up from seventeen calls in October.

"We completed a total of 47 responses in December and only eight of those were sent out to the South Central Manitoba Area. And for those missions there were a number of motor vehicle collisions, a couple of trauma related incidents, and we did do a search and rescue in the area as well," said Flight Paramedic and Clinical Operations Manger Ray Rempel

Manitoba's first hospital-based roof-top helipad became officially operational Monday November 28, 2016 at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg. The helipad sits on the roof of the new, 91,000-square-foot Diagnostic Centre of Excellence, located between paediatric inpatient units of HSC Children's Hospital and the Ann Thomas Building, which houses critical care services including intensive care units, operating theatres and emergency departments.

After the announcement in November Rempel noted that they often talk about the "golden hour." That means that from the time of an accident, the victim needs to be into a tertiary care centre and ideally in the care of a surgeon within sixty minutes. He also mentioned that the opening of this helipad will, no doubt, save lives.