Dwight Gregory Powell | |
---|---|
Born | |
Occupation | Emergency physician |
Known for | Founding Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service (STARS) |
Dwight Gregory Powell (born November 24, 1947) is an emergency medicine physician specialist in Foothills, Alberta and a professor of family medicine and emergency medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Calgary. He is also the founder and CEO of the nonprofit Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (STARS), a helicopter-based emergency transport service in Alberta and British Columbia.
After graduating from Strathcona Composite High School [1] and attending medical school at the University of British Columbia, he spent time as an observer in the Vietnam War. This experience showed him the advantage of using aircraft to get critically ill people to medical treatment. [2] In the 1970s Powell, while a resident physician at the University of Calgary, served as chief of the emergency department at the university's Foothills Medical Centre. He had also been trained as a pilot. "I saw people coming into our care who could be salvaged if we had a bit more speed and talent applied to the pre-hospital part of their care," he later said. [2] So he decided to create an air medical transport service for Calgary. He is a Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Fellow in Emergency Medicine since 1983. [3]
Knowing that helicopters were by far the most efficient means of moving severely ill or injured patients, he created a nonprofit organization, Shock Trauma Air Rescue Services Foundation, to provide helicopter rescue and transport in and around Calgary. The local Lions Club provided seed money. The Foundation created its working arm, Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (STARS), which carried out its first mission on December 1, 1985. [4] Since then more than 42,000 flights have been carried out. The service currently operates from three bases in Alberta, two in Saskatchewan and one in Manitoba. [5]
Powell served as founder, president and CEO of STARS for 27 years. In April 2012 he gave up the roles of president and CEO to Andrea Robertson, while remaining actively involved as Founder. [6]
In July 2006 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. [7] Also in 2006 he was given the Medal for Distinguished Service by the Alberta Medical Association. [8]
In November 2012 he was presented with a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
In 2012 he was given the Marriott-Carlson Lifetime Achievement award, presented at the annual Air Medical Transport Conference in Seattle. [2]
In November 2015, an official ceremony was held at the McCaig Tower at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary to name the helipad the Dr. Gregory Powell helipad.
On June 7, 2018, Dr. Powell was officially inducted to Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame during a ceremony.
In 2021, he was inducted to the Alberta Order of Excellence. [1]
Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. They may also be known as a first aid squad, FAST squad, emergency squad, ambulance squad, ambulance corps, life squad or by other initialisms such as EMAS or EMARS.
A trauma center, or trauma centre, is a hospital equipped and staffed to provide care for patients suffering from major traumatic injuries such as falls, motor vehicle collisions, or gunshot wounds. A trauma center may also refer to an emergency department without the presence of specialized services to care for victims of major trauma.
In emergency medicine, the golden hour is the period of time immediately after a traumatic injury during which there is the highest likelihood that prompt medical and surgical treatment will prevent death. While initially defined as an hour, the exact time period depends on the nature of the injury and can be more than or less than this duration. It is well established that the person's chances of survival are greatest if they receive care within a short period of time after a severe injury; however, there is no evidence to suggest that survival rates drop off after 60 minutes. Some have come to use the term to refer to the core principle of rapid intervention in trauma cases, rather than the narrow meaning of a critical one-hour time period.
The George Washington University Hospital (GWUH) is a for-profit hospital in Washington, D.C., affiliated with the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Since 1997, the George Washington University Hospital has been jointly owned and operated by a partnership between a subsidiary of Universal Health Services and the George Washington University.
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Foothills Medical Centre (FMC) is the largest hospital in the province of Alberta and is located in the city of Calgary. It is one of Canada's most recognized medical facilities and one of the leading research and teaching hospitals. Foothills Medical Centre provides advanced healthcare services to over two million people from Calgary, and surrounding regions including southern Alberta, southeastern British Columbia, and southern Saskatchewan. Formerly operated by the Calgary Health Region, it is now under the authority of Alberta Health Services and part of the University of Calgary Medical Centre.
London's Air Ambulance Charity is a registered charity that operates a helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) dedicated to responding to serious trauma emergencies in and around London. Using a helicopter from 08:00 to sunset and rapid response vehicles by night, the service performs advanced medical interventions at the scene of the incident in life-threatening, time-critical situations.
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