Helipad upgrade at Prince County Hospital

Improvements to the Prince County Hospital’s (PCH) heliport will ensure Islanders have 24/7 access to emergency air transports.

The work will take approximately 10 weeks, and during that time patients requiring Lifeflights will be transported by Island EMS to the Lifeflight alternate landing site at Slemon Park. There will be no delay or difference to the flight than if the Lifeflight was landing at PCH.

“Access to safe emergency health services are of utmost priority,” said Health and Wellness Minister Robert Henderson. “When Islanders needs to be airlifted into or out of the province, we need to ensure that our processes are safe, efficient, and meet all national requirements.”

Government is investing approximately $200,000 through Health PEI’s Capital Repairs and Maintenance Fund to complete the heliport upgrades, which include:

• installing perimeter lighting around the helipad;

• installing obstruction lighting on light poles;

• removing several parking spaces nearest to the helipad and relocating them to another area on the hospital grounds;

• removing and replacing the existing fence line;

• establishing an appropriate ditching zone in the immediate flight path;

• repainting the markings on helipad; and,

• making the helipad landing surface larger

“Up to date infrastructure ensures that important services such as emergency medicine can dependably be delivered to Islanders,” Transportation, Infrastructure and Energy Minister Paula Biggar said. “The Prince County Hospital is tremendously valuable to western PEI and we are proud to enable air ambulance connections that keep this hospital accessible for all Islanders.”

Media contacts:
Autumn Tremere
Health and Wellness
agtremere@gov.pe.ca
902-368-8285
 
Ron Ryder
Transportation, Infrastructure and Energy
rrryder@gov.pe.ca
(902)368-5112