THE VOICE OF NORTH 4NO WEST VANS
sree -_ a ;

July 3, 1991

Classifieds 986-6222 Office, Editerial 985-2131

helip

$400,000 pad could be ready by summer 1992

AFTER YEARS of controversy, over emergency helicopter
landings in the community, Lions Gate Hospital will final-
ly buitd 2 helicopter pad on its own roof.

But the hospital stil! needs
funding to land the pad, accord-
ing to Bob Smith, president of
LGH.

Smith said the helicopter pad
has been approved by Tranport
Canada, the provincial health
ministry, and North Vancouver
City. The hospital must now raise
enough money to cover the
$350,000 to $400,000 price tag of
building the pad.

But Smith said the pad could be
built by as early as the summer of
1992 and is optimistic the money
will be raised.

“*T don’t think it would take us
forever and one day to build it;
it’s really getting the financial
package lined up,’’ he said.

The pad would be built atop the
hospital’s northern expansion,
above the emergency room and
operating rooms. An elevator will
tranport trauma patients to the
lower two floors.

While LGH is not officially des-
ignated a regional trauma centre
by the health ministry, it is con-
sidered one by the emergency
health services and receives from
throughout B.C. patients who are
in need of critical care, Smith
said.

He estimates emergency land-
ings will be made two to three
times a month at the hospital.

‘*We’re situated on the edge of
a region where there’s heavy in-
dustry — we get a lot of industrial
accidents — and a lot of recre-
ation, Smith said.

A hospital emergency helicopter
pad will speed up a patient’s trip
to the hospital, according to Tim
Jones, North Vancouver unit
chief, B.C. Ambulance Service.

“he key thing for us is patient
care. When you have a helicopter
pad at the hospital, you cut out
the transportation time from a

By Elizabeth Collings
News Reporter

Jones.
Jones estimates the average time
of transportation from the Lmding

site at Philip Avenue in North
Vancouver to LGH to be 30
minutes.

“The transportation ov the pa-

tient is a serious, technical job,
especially with a critical patient,’’
said Jones, adding that paramed-
ics trained in advanced life sup-
port are required.

With the hospital helicopter
pad, the ambulance service will
also be able to utilize its am-
bulances more efficiently because
there will be mere ambulances in
circulation, Jones said.

“It is time consuming, taking a
patient out of a helicopter into the
ambulance and to the hospital,
even if it's four to five blocks
away,” he said.

In the past, emergency
helicopters landed at an informal

_site on Grand Boulevard approx-

imately 12 times a year, Jones
said.

But over the past two years,
helicopters have primarily used a
landing site at the foot of Philip
Avenue in North Vancouver as
well as the Kitsilano Coast Guard
base and the Vancouver Airport.

In September, North Vancouver
City Council decided not to build
a formal heli-pad on Grand Boul-
evard. The move followed three
years of deliberation and delay.

Council voted against the Grand
Boulevard heli-pad after consider-
ing public opposition, the need to
rezone a park, and the possible
delay caused in establishing a pad
at LGH if a concrete pad was

helipad somewhere else,’’ said constructed at Grand Boulevard.
a
-Index
Wi Budget Beaters......... M Dr. Ruth..............
@ Business .............. W Sports ............-. .
@ Classified Ads.......... MTV Listings ...........
@ Lifestyles.......... B® What's Going On .....

9B North Shore Now ..

@ZAP............

Weather

Thursday and Friday, cloudy with a chance of showers. Highs 20°C.
Second Class Registration Number 3885.

ne

Gastown
Grand Prix

TRIUMPHANT LANCE Arm-
strong (left), 19, celebrates
his victory Sunday at the
65-kilometre Gastown Grand
Prix which he clinched in
one hour, 20 minutes, 10
seconds. North Vancouver’s
Alex Stieda (right), riding for
Evian/Miko, was third with
1:20.32 and finished second
overall in the Canadian Tire
National Series. Another
North Vancouver rider,
Alison Sydor, was awarded
first place in the women's
32-kilometre event after
another rider cut her off
during a final 50-metre
sprint to the finish line.
Sydor won with a time of 40
minutes, six seconds.

aN ad AREY, %,

REACHING EVERY DOOR ON THE NORTH SHORE SINCE 1969

Display Advertisine 380-0511

Tony Waiters discusses |
the business of soccer .

Sports: 13

Distribution 986-1337 56 pages 25¢

approved