STARS Calendars

[firedorval]

I live in Fort McMurray, Alberta. Over the last few weeks, people from STARS have been going around the city selling their calendars. And to tell you the truth, that kind of piss me off. First of all, STARTS doesn't cover the Fort McMurray area at all. The Fort McMurray fire Department in conjunction with Phoenix Helicopter does all the air medevac !!! So when i walk into walmart a few days ago and I saw that little lady selling the calendar to the people I approached her and asked her simply (with all the people around her waiting to buy one) if when people buy the calendar, they tell them that the money they are giving is going to the people in Edmonton and Calgary because STARS does NOT cover the Fort McMurray area....simple and legitimate question.....Well the lady totally loses it, tell me that it's bullshit that STARS does cover our area and going on and on and on.....i couldn't believe it. She looked like a total fool. And a lot of people, once they learned about it, listening to our conversation, simply left and didn't buy the calendar, they thought the money was going to come back toi them if they are ever in need of an helicopter....

What do you guys think, is it fair that STARS sell their calendar without explaining tothe people that they do not in fact cover the area....????

[irsqyu]

I live in Fort McMurray, Alberta. Over the last few weeks, people from STARS have been going around the city selling their calendars. And to tell you the truth, that kind of piss me off. First of all, STARTS doesn't cover the Fort McMurray area at all. The Fort McMurray fire Department in conjunction with Phoenix Helicopter does all the air medevac !!! So when i walk into walmart a few days ago and I saw that little lady selling the calendar to the people I approached her and asked her simply (with all the people around her waiting to buy one) if when people buy the calendar, they tell them that the money they are giving is going to the people in Edmonton and Calgary because STARS does NOT cover the Fort McMurray area....simple and legitimate question.....Well the lady totally loses it, tell me that it's bullshit that STARS does cover our area and going on and on and on.....i couldn't believe it. She looked like a total fool. And a lot of people, once they learned about it, listening to our conversation, simply left and didn't buy the calendar, they thought the money was going to come back toi them if they are ever in need of an helicopter....

What do you guys think, is it fair that STARS sell their calendar without explaining tothe people that they do not in fact cover the area....????


Next you are going to be upset at people selling "Oilers" calendars there, as the team doesn't even play there:D

[FireChef]

I was checking out the STARS website, and they fly to Ft. McMurray as part of their outreach program. But it isn't within the 250 km non-refueling zone, so they would need to refuel to carry on to Ft.McMurray.

To answer your question, should they be allowed to "fundraise in an area they don't cover", thats a good question, and I dont have an answer. You would think that Calgary and Edmonton have a big enough population to cover the fundraising.


My 2 cents

[BigAxe]

Okay, you are completely correct that Fort Mac is out of the 250 range. But they would service it if necessary.
In addition, in the next couple years STARS is getting new choppers which can fly twice as far for the same amount of fuel. These will, if not reach Fort Mac, certainly come very close to it. So while the money will not immediately impact you, it will in the very near future.
That being said, I don't agree with the reps reaction to you. You had a legitimate question (how you posed it may be another question), and it deserved a professional answer, which she could have easily provided had she done her research on why suddenly STARS was campaigning in Fort Mac. Ironically, STARS really isn't struggling for money, so it is interesting that they would suddenly widen their campaigning net.

[eveningmail]

I live in Fort McMurray, Alberta. Over the last few weeks, people from STARS have been going around the city selling their calendars. And to tell you the truth, that kind of piss me off. First of all, STARTS doesn't cover the Fort McMurray area at all. The Fort McMurray fire Department in conjunction with Phoenix Helicopter does all the air medevac !!! So when i walk into walmart a few days ago and I saw that little lady selling the calendar to the people I approached her and asked her simply (with all the people around her waiting to buy one) if when people buy the calendar, they tell them that the money they are giving is going to the people in Edmonton and Calgary because STARS does NOT cover the Fort McMurray area....simple and legitimate question.....Well the lady totally loses it, tell me that it's bullshit that STARS does cover our area and going on and on and on.....i couldn't believe it. She looked like a total fool. And a lot of people, once they learned about it, listening to our conversation, simply left and didn't buy the calendar, they thought the money was going to come back toi them if they are ever in need of an helicopter....

What do you guys think, is it fair that STARS sell their calendar without explaining tothe people that they do not in fact cover the area....????

You are completely in the right to not support STARS. They don't serve Ft. Mac and even with the alleged new helicopters they will be of little use anyway. Although I respect the level of care they provide, I have many problems with how they operate. They should not be raising money to places they don't service or have a base in. And as a side note, the fire department does not do all of the medevacs, they do the helicopter ones, Air Mikisew covers fixed wing.

[firedorval]

You are completely in the right to not support STARS. They don't serve Ft. Mac and even with the alleged new helicopters they will be of little use anyway. Although I respect the level of care they provide, I have many problems with how they operate. They should not be raising money to places they don't service or have a base in. And as a side note, the fire department does not do all of the medevacs, they do the helicopter ones, Air Mikisew covers fixed wing.

Sorry, I forgot to mention that i was only talking about "helicopter medivac...not the fixed wings medivac, which air Mikisew does..

[hmckay91]

FireDorval

A close fire service friend of mine made use of STARS facilites, when his father was killed and mother critically injured in a MVC, while traveling in the mountains. He had only good things to say about the organisation, so I may be biased.

You definatly deserved a proper and polite answer to your inquiry. (However, I know you can be intimidating when :mad: , so the way the question was asked is important, and could effect the answer ;))

What do you guys think, is it fair that STARS sell their calendar without explaining to the people that they do not in fact cover the area....????

YES. As long as they were not misrepresenting themselves as providing services/coverage areas that they do not AND are not competing for donations with a local organisation (i.e. non profit society) providing the same services.

You are completely in the right to not support STARS. They don't serve Ft. Mac and even with the alleged new helicopters they will be of little use anyway. Although I respect the level of care they provide, I have many problems with how they operate.

eveningmail may have some valid concerns but their overall view is a little shortsighted.

I compare it to cancer (dialiysis, burn centres, edm hosipitals, etc) that also conduct fundraising in our rural areas. Many of these services we rural Albertans receive, can only be accessed in the larger centers, even though they serve the entire population.

A large part of your FortMac population commutes, from other parts of the provicnce. I travel for work and hockey (as most of us do) through a fair amount of the province that IS covered by STARS. I find it comforting that my family and I have coverage in those areas we travel through.

Regardless, YOU have the choice to contribute or not!

[eveningmail]

I'll buy a calender next time I'm in Edmonton or Calgary then. Not to sound bitter or anything, but I've spent a few years doing fixed wing medevacs and I've had to witness STARS taking credit for our work before. But that is neither here nor there. The fact is, STARS has more money than they know what to do with. So they don't really need to be raising money outside of their area.

[hockey123]

FireDorval

A close fire service friend of mine made use of STARS facilites, when his father was killed and mother critically injured in a MVC, while traveling in the mountains. He had only good things to say about the organisation, so I may be biased.

You definatly deserved a proper and polite answer to your inquiry. (However, I know you can be intimidating when :mad: , so the way the question was asked is important, and could effect the answer ;))



YES. As long as they were not misrepresenting themselves as providing services/coverage areas that they do not AND are not competing for donations with a local organisation (i.e. non profit society) providing the same services.



eveningmail may have some valid concerns but their overall view is a little shortsighted.

I compare it to cancer (dialiysis, burn centres, edm hosipitals, etc) that also conduct fundraising in our rural areas. Many of these services we rural Albertans receive, can only be accessed in the larger centers, even though they serve the entire population.

A large part of your FortMac population commutes, from other parts of the provicnce. I travel for work and hockey (as most of us do) through a fair amount of the province that IS covered by STARS. I find it comforting that my family and I have coverage in those areas we travel through.

Regardless, YOU have the choice to contribute or not!

I agree with you. A lot of people that "Use" Fort McMurray travel all over Alberta where STARS respond too. They also support education by bringing Emergency Departments to the next level of EMS care (EMR to EMT...). Which brings the level of medical care higher to all areas of Alberta creating a much more medically advanced province. Lots of other agencies fund raise for services that aren't provided here but people take advantage of them else where. This city could use a service like STARS with the amount of distance covered by Fort McMurray. The helicoptor service is not staffed full time in Fort McMurray. It responds to the chopper then flys. That is a lot of time wasted. Maybe we should support this program and encourage it to be a part of Fort McMurray. Before firedorval makes a blunt comment on something, he should do the research. I look at it as the more resources the better. It is a personnal choice to support whatever you want, eg. united way, MS whatever.

[eveningmail]

Also keep in mind that STARS markets itself as a 'non-profit' society and some how manages to generate large amounts of profit for a few key individuals. True the stars simulator is pretty sweet. But I don't care for how they conduct business. Truthfully I'm conflicted on whether I support them or not. There are good points to STARS, but there is another side to them.

[firedorval]

I agree with you. A lot of people that "Use" Fort McMurray travel all over Alberta where STARS respond too. They also support education by bringing Emergency Departments to the next level of EMS care (EMR to EMT...). Which brings the level of medical care higher to all areas of Alberta creating a much more medically advanced province. Lots of other agencies fund raise for services that aren't provided here but people take advantage of them else where. This city could use a service like STARS with the amount of distance covered by Fort McMurray. The helicoptor service is not staffed full time in Fort McMurray. It responds to the chopper then flys. That is a lot of time wasted. Maybe we should support this program and encourage it to be a part of Fort McMurray. Before firedorval makes a blunt comment on something, he should do the research. I look at it as the more resources the better. It is a personnal choice to support whatever you want, eg. united way, MS whatever.

Before I make a blunt comment??? What is so blunt about asking a simple question big boy?? If you are "pro stars" good for you, i never said it was a bad organization, i am just saying that they do not inform people about their area of response when they sell their calendars.....

And to say that i should do my research....what do you think I did, just sat in front of my computer and made a comment for no reason....Just go read my first post ....i am asking a QUESTION, not complaining about the organization...

[FitSsikS]

You said the lady "lost it"* or words to that effect.

*"the lady totally loses it, tell me that it's bullshit"

Just to throw a wrench into things.....there is another option here.

Some organizations have been robbed in the past (The Canadian Cancer Society to name one) and have had their IDs and paperwork used to scam money off people.

Maybe she was pocketing the money herself. It would interesting to see if she had official documentation and if she had provided that to Walmart when she sought permission to be there.

[hockey123]

Before I make a blunt comment??? What is so blunt about asking a simple question big boy?? If you are "pro stars" good for you, i never said it was a bad organization, i am just saying that they do not inform people about their area of response when they sell their calendars.....

And to say that i should do my research....what do you think I did, just sat in front of my computer and made a comment for no reason....Just go read my first post ....i am asking a QUESTION, not complaining about the organization...


Easy there rookie

[firedorval]

No, you take it easy junior man....

[hockey123]

No, you take it easy junior man....

Good one. That almost took as much thought as your uneducated comment.

[bucko911]

STARS provides a great and valuable service.

As does Air Mikisew, Western Air rescue, Advanced Paramedics, Aeromedical Emergency Services, Alberta Central Air Ambulance, City of Calgary EMS, Fort McMurray Fire Dept and many, many more excellent organizations that are dedicated to care of the sick.

Some provide fixed wing, some provide rotary. STARS is by no means the only rotary wing service in Alberta.

Should they be fund raising in an area in which they do not provide service? That's a tough one. IMHO, as long as they freely and openly articulate they do not provide service in the given area, go for it. The calendars are cool.