The STARS air ambulance service has a new landing pad in the town of Wadena. Thanks to interagency efforts, a host of volunteers, and a generous donation from a local landowner, STARS has a new home.

Prior to the establishment of the new pad, the air service had tried several options. One of them was to use the Wadena Composite High School parking lot, located adjacent to the Wadena Hospital. If a landing was necessary during the school's operating hours, it forced a lockdown situation at the school. The landing pad then migrated to the local airstrip. Again, this was not an ideal situation given that the airstrip was several kilometres out of town and had no permanent lighting. There were issues with landing when the area was muddy or blown in with snow. For a time, grid roads were used for landing, refuelling, and patient transport.

Wadena's deputy fire chief, Brian Weber, explains that a solution was reached when the fire department, the town and a group of volunteers contacted a local landowner. "The landowner donated a parcel of land just north of the high school grounds which is about a block from the hospital. The land borders the town and there's a road that goes right past it." The access plot, about an acre in size, was worked to usable condition. Along with a ready road access, the site has the advantage of helicopters not having to fly over residential areas. 

The next step was to source rig mats for the actual landing pad. Weber explains their construction and their suitability, "The pads are 14 feet by 8 feet set up in a T-shape so we can actually back the ambulance right in. The mats are basically 2 by 6 heavy duty lumber interwoven, about three layers of it crisscrossed, so it can take an immense weight. Usually moisture or wind won't affect them, so it makes a good heavy landing pad for the helicopters."

The new pad was pressed into service on the night of Feb. 27 when snow squalls forced a refuelling at the Wadena site. Everyone was pleased with the efforts, Weber reports, "Everything went good. The pilots were quite impressed with what we'd done out there compared to the airport which was a bit more primitive." Several patients have been successfully transported at the new site.