Hollister will need to wait a little longer before Calstar
finally calls the city home.
Hollister will need to wait a little longer before Calstar finally calls the city home.
After announcing its plans to open a permanent Calstar operation at the Hollister Municipal Airport almost two years ago, Calstar’s plans have yet to reach fruition.
Two years ago, the Hollister area was a perfect spot for a Calstar base, regional director Michael Baulch said. It had a high rate of fatal crashes and it was immune to the dense fog that could harm the Calstar helicopters.
But with economic downturn of the last year, Calstar, a nonprofit emergency responder that uses air ambulances to airlift patients from accidents to local hospitals, has raised fewer donations and fewer people are driving in the area, causing a lower number of accidents, Baulch said.
“We never wish for people to get injured but we do need to see an increase,” he said. “We need to be fiscally responsible. We want to make sure there is enough flight volume to be fiscally responsible.”
The Hollister base’s opening – it would be Calstar’s 11th in the state – has been delayed before. Calstar’s original plan was to have the base open by April 2009, but because of the economy it postponed the completion to later in the summer. Nearly a year later, the project remains incomplete.
Calstar has a building at the airport, but does not staff it full time or keep a helicopter there, said Airport Manager Mike Chambless. It does occasionally use the spot to transfer patients from Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital.
The timing of a possible Calstar base opening in Hollister, meanwhile, depends on a decision over air-ambulance coverage in Monterey County.
Its leaders are in the process of requesting bids for a local air-ambulance system after nine years of service by Calstar, said Monterey County Emergency Medical Services Agency Director Tom Lynch.
The county wants to find an air-ambulance service that will cost its residents the least while maintaining high quality, Lynch said.
The county has six different providers from around the state and country that have expressed interest, he said. Monterey County hopes to find a provider by the end of the year.
And whatever Monterey County decides, it will have a direct effect on Hollister.
If Calstar doesn’t get the bid, the company has preliminary plans to move its Salinas base to the Hollister Municipal Airport, Baulch said.
For the full story, see the Pinnacle on Friday.
