(Ben Tompkins/northeastNOW)

By Ben Tompkins

Rural Access

Sod turned for Nipawin heliport

Jul 23, 2024 | 10:04 AM

The Nipawin Heliport project is now officially underway when it comes to its construction.

Late Monday morning (July 22) the Twin Lakes District Planning Commission (TLDPC) held a sod-turning ceremony to mark the beginning of the actual building of the heliport, which is expected to be completed this fall.

“It’s so exciting, we’ve accomplished so much since our initial fundraising kickoff back in November. The TLDPC had a vision and we know how important it is to have STARS be able to come here safely for all of the RMs around, as well as Nipawin. We promised the community that we would accomplish it in 2024 and here we are today, putting shovels in the ground,” said TLDPC member and Nipawin deputy mayor, Sheila Seiferling.

“We have hired an engineer and a contracting company from Saskatoon and we are confident that they will get the job done to the specs that have been designed. We are looking forward to the opening in the fall.”

(Ben Tompkins/northeastNOW)

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The aforementioned fundraising launch event brought in plenty of money for the project, including a $200,000 donation from John Zales.

That was created after original plans for the project stalled out during COVID.

According to Seiferling, since then, the project just continued to regain more and more traction as the need was evident.

“I think that the generous donors of our area proved that they believe in rural Saskatchewan and that we need this in our community. It’s exciting to prove to the community that we were behind it and that without the generous donations, it wouldn’t be possible, so we want to thank all of the donors for providing us with funds to kick this off,” she added.

One case where the need may have been most evident was in the response to the 2017/18 Humboldt Broncos Bus Crash.

Funds have come from the Humboldt Strong Community Foundation, as Seiferling told northeastNOW she remembers that tragedy well and knows the difference between having a heliport and not.

“I was a part of that tragedy in Humboldt as a nurse at the hospital. I’ll never forget that night and I hope I never have to experience it again, but certainly, the less you have to move patients in a critical state, the better off they are and the outcome is just so much better. It’s proved, statistically, and that is why we’re here today.”

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