Dignitaries, medical professionals and members of the public were blown away during a helicopter landing demonstration at Bluewater Health Friday morning.
The Sarnia hospital's new helipad is now complete, and it should have certification from Transport Canada by the end of the month.
Bluewater Health VP of Operations Laurie Zimmer was one of the first people to push for the helipad back in 2017. She said it'll benefit the hospital and the community in many ways.
"The ability to keep our health human resources here on site is one of the major reasons. We have to transport the critical care patient with a doctor or a nurse and a respiratory therapist, and of course the paramedics by land, which takes all of those services out of commission for many, many hours," said Zimmer. "This way, we can fly a patient to get access to care much quicker -- 20 minutes from London to here -- so that they can have better outcomes."
The project, which was estimated to cost around $912,000, came in a bit over budget.
"It's somewhere around $1-million," said Bluewater Health President and CEO Mike Lapaine. "And we're so fortunate we got it built when we did because I think if we were starting the project today it would cost considerably more."
An Ornge helicopter about to touch down at Bluewater Health's helipad in Sarnia. 14 October 2022. (Blackburn Media photo)
Lapaine said for trauma patients, the helipad will help cut travel time by about 20 to 30 minutes. He also said the assumption is that Bluewater Health is always moving patients out.
"But during the pandemic, we were actually moving a lot of patients here from Toronto, a lot of ICU patients from Toronto ended up coming here and they would have to come to the airport, they would have to then get transported by land ambulance and these are critically ill patients. So, just the fact that they're able to just be transported once is a real benefit."
Lapaine said local industry and the agriculture sector see the benefit of the helipad.
"Because, unfortunately, when bad things happen on the worksite, the ability to ensure the safety of their workers is critical. So, this is a great thing for them as well."
Lapaine also said hospital Chief of Staff Dr. Mike Haddad was another person that was really pushing for the helipad.
"He's the person that is frequently making the decision whether we transport or whether we receive patients. So, he deals with this on the frontline everyday."
Ornge provides air ambulance and associated ground transportation services for the province of Ontario. Acting Chief Operating Officer Peter Cunnington said prior to the helipad, Ornge had serviced the Sarnia hospital about 70 times, requiring a helicopter to land at Chris Hadfield Airport. He said the helipad "is a huge game-changer."