Paul and Andrea Spring

For Paul and Andrea Spring, the launch of their Local Helicopter Emergency Response Organization – better known as LocalHERO – in 2013 was the realization of their dream to bring a dedicated 24/7 medevac service to the residents of Wood Buffalo.

“Do we see ourselves as community builders? Not really. This was something that needed to be done, and we had the capacity and drive to do it. So we did it,” says Paul.

“The builder of a program; a filler of a need,” further describes Andrea.

“Saving lives. That’s the ultimate objective of any service like this; to save lives or reduce suffering or provide better outcomes, especially for stroke patients and heart attack patients.

“This is where Andrea’s medical expertise has informed me over the years on how time sensitive some of these things are,” explains Paul.

“That’s right,” she adds. “Paul likes to talk about the golden hour. That first hour is extremely important for saving lives. If you can get them to a higher level of care, their chances of survival are just so much higher, and, like any medical condition, if they have to wait extra hours, they’re always going to deteriorate, and it could take twice as long for them to get better.

“Yes, the service is saving lives, but it’s also the quality of that life after whatever has happened.”

Flying medevac in the area since 1986, Paul continued when he and Andrea started Phoenix Heli-Flight, a charter helicopter company, in 1991. From then until LocalHERO flew, it was Paul answering the medevac calls. When LocalHERO took off, Paul’s status changed to off-call.

“I’d been on call for 22 years. I knew that if I missed a phone call, someone could die, so the phone never left my side. For 22 years, I carried a phone 24/7. As a pilot, I was always on call. I’d be cutting the grass and the phone was clipped to the back of my hat or here,” he said touching the lapel of his shirt, “so I could hear it because we didn’t have watches that buzz when your phone went off or any of that kind of stuff. It was just the basic cell phone like a Motorola flip phone.”

Moving the family into one of the company’s two hangars made it easier to respond to calls.

Working in health care for 35 years, Andrea worked at the Northern Lights Regional Health Centre for nearly 28 years as a physiotherapist. “Paul would bring patients in, and then I would see them at the hospital afterwards and rehab them. More teamwork.”

Once the LocalHERO Foundation was created and HERO1 was in the sky, dedicated pilots in the chopper responded to the medevac calls.

When HERO1, the first medical EC135 in Canada, lifts off on its way to an emergency call, there are two pilots on board accompanied by two paramedics from the Fort McMurray Fire Department. It can also accommodate one stretcher, which slides in at the back of the chopper.

“When we are called by Central Dispatch, the guys can have the chopper out and ready to go in eight minutes,” states Andrea.

While HERO1 responds, ground crews are also dispatched. The double dispatch is a safeguard in case weather becomes a problem or mechanical issues.

“There’s never any charge for the patient. I always like to tell people that because they assume there is some charge,” points out Andrea.

The year after Paul started LocalHERO, he knew he needed a manager for the foundation, and offered Andrea the position.

“I’d say he offered me a position with the program, but it was more of an ultimatum that he was going to hire a tall skinny blonde if I didn’t come do it, and that was it,” she chuckles. “It can be a bit much sometimes living in the hangar and working together in the same office.

“We’ve been together nearly 50 years.”

Paul gives her a wink and quips, “She’s growing on me.”

To enable night flying capabilities, Paul added military-grade night vision goggles (NVG), and invests annually in pilot certification for both NVG and Instrument Flight Rules to meet Transport Canada regulations.

With LocalHERO being a registered charity, fund-raising is a critical component as its operating budget, which runs between $3.5 million and $4 million a year; all of it funded by donation, grants or sponsorships.

The Springs usually host a major fund-raising party every year; however, the COVID-19 pandemic closed the doors on the past two for an estimated loss of $400,000. They are planning a luau for spring 2022.

“Having no fundraiser the last two years really hurt us,” acknowledges Paul.

“Just to have the machine sit here and be ready, and the guy’s ready, the base cost is $3 million, and then everything related to flights as soon as it moves, it’s between $500,000 and $1.5 million depending on how often we go, and it’s gotten much busier,” explains Andrea. “We had a record number of calls this last quarter.”

Of the 32 calls from August to October, HERO1 flew 12 times.

A United Way agency, Andrea accepts every guest speaking opportunity she can to raise awareness about LocalHERO. One reason is the local medevac is fighting a persistent misconception that it is STARS, which does not respond to calls north of Wandering River.

It’s such an issue that some patients transported by LocalHERO maintain they were rescued by STARS.

“So half the battle is money, and half the battle is awareness,” she notes.

“We want to get the funding stabilized so that we can go out on a limb again,” says Andrea, adding a bigger chopper is their goal.

The entry-level chopper that is HERO1 was what Phoenix could afford at the time.

“We had to sign up for this one on our own not knowing if we’d make it or not,” remembers Paul. “It has done a great job, but it’s time to get a bigger one because sometimes there are two patients, sometimes the mother wants to go with the child, sometimes the RCMP want to go or somebody with an elder who doesn’t speak English.”

Andrea points out that a lot of lives have been saved thanks to HERO1, flying well over 500 times. “We see people on the worst day of their life, and then they move on. We don’t know their names. We know nothing about them.”

That doesn’t mean LocalHERO is necessarily forgotten thanks to its ability for community building.

“We’ve managed to bring people towards the program. We’ve met a lot of people that we wouldn’t have normally met,” admits Paul. “The milestone is that people have come to know what we do, they know it’s worthwhile, and it brings people together. It doesn’t matter who they are. We hear a lot of people say, ‘Oh, I know a friend that you medevaced,’ and ‘My other friend had a medical event here, and you medevaced them.”

“Our friends have become our biggest supporters,” says Andrea, and vice versa.

Operating LocalHERO has been fraught with debt, challenges, and financial uncertainty, but the Springs haven’t waivered.

“Hindsight is always 20/20. If we had the chance to do it all again, we’d have the program funded before ordering the helicopter,” wryly admits Andrea.

“It is meaningful, rewarding work for all involved, and it was the right thing to do for the community.”