STARS has flown several missions into our region so far this year.

Since January 1st, the air ambulance has responded to 475 calls across the province with four months left in the year.

"In the southern part of the province, including the Winkler-Morden area, we're at about 35 missions so far this year," said Grant Therrien, Provincial Director for STARS.

Therrien says the time it takes for them to move a patient from a location in rural Manitoba to Winnipeg has improved significantly thanks in large part to the helipad at the Health Sciences Centre which was opened in December of 2016.

He adds, they have made over 460 transports to that rooftop over the past 20 months, which has been a real game changer when it comes to improving the time it takes to get a patient from their location to the HSC.