Dr. Mark Bemment Completes STARS Academy Training, Enhances Local Critical Care
This past week, STARS Air Ambulance training team spent two days in Killarney to train the local's medical staff, including the new doctors, in the critical care program affiliated with STARS.
Tri-Lake Medical Center's Dr. Mark Bemment just completed training with the STARS Academy, a program that is designed to train both new hires and external candidates, including physicians, nurses, and those working in rural areas.
The program lasts four months and combines external learning with practical experience, including participation in certain flights.
Dr. Bemment says the STARS staff includes a doctor and nurse on board the helicopter, so he is not required to travel with the patient. But the training helps the medical staff know the process from when the patient arrives at the local hospital to when it reaches its destination at the critical care facility in Winnipeg, or even Brandon.
"The training helps us deal with very sick people," explains Dr. Bemment. "It helps us deal with how to immediately manage them while we're trying to get them somewhere else. There is a certain subset of patients who need that level of care. And it helps us have a better understanding."
Last Thursday's fundraiser at the Killarney-Turtle Mountain Fire Hall was two-fold; to raise funds and awareness for STARS but also to raise money for the local hospital to purchase their own ventilator.
The purchase of the ventilator runs at approximately $20,000 and will be the first for the Killarney hospital.
A ventilator is a machine that assists patients with breathing and isn't typcially in rural hospitals. Sometimes, it provides support through a mask while the patient is awake and struggling to breathe. For very unwell patients who need to be intubated, the ventilator takes over the breathing process entirely.
With the over $103,000 raised at Thursday's fundraiser it is safe to say Killarney's Tri-Lake Health Centre will be purchasing their ventilator in the near future.
