Ken King,
a passion for the mission

In 1986, when questions arose about staffing our helicopters, Ken King was a driving force in organizing volunteers from southern Alberta paramedics, including himself, to join STARS crews in their free time.

“It’s never been boring, it’s never been stagnant,” Ken says in reflection of his time with STARS. “It’s been continual change, not only in the evolution of the organization, but also the evolution of medicine.”

As the organization expanded, Ken became a leader in the development of the STARS Emergency Link Centre (ELC). At the time, 911 was still a budding idea; some cities had yet to have the emergency line set up. He believed that STARS could benefit from this concept, so he joined other STARS leaders in establishing a similar entity that would be dedicated to industry.

The idea was to create a more streamlined approach when dealing with emergency situations. The two main principles of 911 were adopted: one number to call and the ability to access the call’s location. However, locating the address of an industry site is difficult as they are not in an urban city so, “We recreated that through the site registration program, and it was really successful,” Ken explains.

King served as the ELC’s first director for more than a decade and explains that, looking back, STARS was aiming to tackle technological strategies well ahead of its time. He later transitioned into senior roles supporting our patients and communications during missions.

Today, the ELC is fully staffed around the clock with highly trained emergency communications specialists who expertly connect important partners in each call, significantly improved patient outcomes and expanding the organization’s outreach. Although STARS has evolved and grown, it has remained steadfast in its commitment to innovative technological advancements.  

Throughout all of this, Ken has continued to serve as a flight paramedic, providing front-line care to thousands of patients in his nearly 40-year tenure.