After Bow Glacier Falls Tragedy, STARS Looks For More Municipal Support

When a rockslide struck hikers at Bow Glacier Falls on June 19, 2025, two Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service helicopters responded to the remote trail. Two people died, and three were injured.

About 100 emergency personnel responded, working together to rescue 13 people.

One STARS helicopter landed at the scene while the other waited near Bow Lake. Transport physician Dr. Paul Tourigny helped assess patients scattered across the area, and the STARS Emergency Link Centre helped co-ordinate transport to hospital.

“Triage at the scene was challenging because of how all of the potential patients were spread out,” Tourigny said in an account published by STARS.

Jackie Seely, a donor relations and development officer with STARS, said getting critical care to patients quickly can determine whether they survive and how well they recover.

“There were 13 patients rescued, and it really is the golden hour where every second counts,” she said. “Patients having access to timely critical care is the difference between life and death, permanent injury and full recovery.”

She said Parks Canada, mountain rescue teams, Alpine Helicopters, police, firefighters and ambulance services all worked together to give patients the best chance of survival.

That response shows how STARS works alongside local emergency services to reach patients in remote parts of the region. Now, it is asking more municipalities to help fund that care.

STARS Looks For More Municipal Support

“STARS is built by the community for the community operating at no cost to the patient since 1985,” Seely wrote.

STARS responds to residents and visitors alike, regardless of whether the local municipality contributes. Seely said the Municipal District of Bighorn is currently the only municipality in the area that funds the service directly.

A presentation to Bighorn council lists its contribution as $4,000 a year and its partnership with STARS as dating back to 1990.

Neither Banff nor Canmore has previously been asked for direct funding, but a request to Canmore is expected to go to council, according to Seely.

In neighbouring Cochrane, STARS has requested its first direct contribution: $1 per resident a year for three years.

The outreach is part of an effort to build regional support beyond rural municipalities. More than 95 percent of Alberta’s rural municipalities already partner with STARS, Seely wrote.

Founded in Calgary in 1985, the service brings specialized medical crews to seriously ill and injured patients. It also transfers patients who need a higher level of care.

It has flown more than 66,000 missions across Western Canada. In the 2025-26 fiscal year, it carried out 3,575 missions from six bases in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Dozens Of Missions Across The Bow Valley

Its published records list 15 missions to the Banff area, 16 to Canmore, 10 to Kananaskis Village and 11 to Lake Louise from 2025-26.

The calls are grouped by location, so those figures don’t necessarily follow municipal boundaries.

A separate report presented to Bighorn council counted 117 missions from 2021 to 2025, including 42 transfers of critically ill or injured patients from Canmore Hospital.

Seely said patients sometimes arrive by ground ambulance and receive care at the hospital while waiting for STARS. The report recorded 19 missions in 2025, down from 28 the year before.

STARS had $38.4 million in direct operating costs in Alberta in 2025-26, according to figures supplied by the organization.

The provincial government covered $15.6 million, or 41 percent. Donations, fundraising and the STARS lottery covered the remaining $22.8 million, or 59 percent.

“Municipal funding requests are generally based on a per capita amount, reflecting community population rather than annual mission volume,” Seely wrote. “This helps create a consistent and equitable framework for municipal support of STARS.”

The mission figures don’t separate residents from visitors. In the Bow Valley, where highways, trails and recreation areas draw people from far beyond the region, the population used to calculate a municipal contribution represents only some of those who might need care.

Seely said declining a funding request would not affect whether STARS responds.

“If we can reach the patient, we will get there,” she said.