And for the people it serves, it becomes a
part of them as well, as Powell recalled from
an interaction during an early fundraising
visit to a small Alberta town near the
Saskatchewanborder.
“It wasn’t about me,” he said.“It was about
somebodywho cared.
“It was about increasing the ambiance and
the safety of living in a remote community
like that. The guy next to me – an elderly
man with gnarled hands, who’d obviously
been a man of the farm and the countryside
his whole life – hunched over and he put his
hand over his heart. And he said, ‘you know,
doc, out here when you have the big one,
you mostly die. Now that you’re here, we’ve
got a chance. And that’s all we were looking
for, a chance.”
It’s a moment that still registers three
decades later – after Powell has stepped
down from full-time STARSleadership
into a part-time role as a community
ambassador.
“We go there five times a year,” he said. “It
w a s n ’ t l i k e w e w e r e g o i n g t o
epidemiologically change the survival
statistics of the world from this little town.
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
Stars( Shock Trauma Air Rescue
Service)
WHAT:
Emergency helicopter service
to transport critically ill or
injured patients
WHERE:
Six bases in Canada: three in
Alberta, two in Saskatchewan
and one in Manitoba
WEBSITE:
64 | BusinessWorld |
May 2014
But the gesturewas very enlightening tome
and I think my headlights came on at that
time and I said, ‘My goodness, this is going
towork.’”
