Steve Curilla always wanted to fly helicopters so getting a job flying with STARS fulfilled a life long dream.   

But, Curilla says, it's also given him a new focus and new perspective on life. Curilla was one of the STARS pilots who flew the new Airbus H145 helicopter into the grounds of the Rocky View County Administration for the unveiling of the RVC logo on the side in recognition of Rocky View's contribution of over $500,000 since they began supporting the program.  

"It's been an excellent career," explains Curilla.  "I always knew that I wanted to fly helicopters but I never knew how much it would mean to contribute so much to society with my job.  My goal was helicoptering initially, but now it's all about people and helping society."

Curilla goes on to explain what he's learned by being a part of the STARS family.

"Life's precious, and families and loved ones and people in society are everything and life changes in a blink, in a heartbeat.  I'm glad to be part of an organization that helps people on their worst days.  We can make a difference in that life, that family.  It is incredibly rewarding and beneficial to society."

In more than 26 years with STARS, Curilla has flown many missions into Rocky View County.  He says that many of those flights have stuck in his mind, especially what he calls the scene calls.

"Scene calls are where we fly directly to the accident scene and in that case, they could be anything.  They could be an accident in a farmyard, or industrial accident or, more commonly, motor vehicle collisions.  As you can imagine they can be quite catastrophic. There's a lot going on. There are so many that I've flown to in Rocky View that stick with me, they really do,  Most of them are car or industrial accidents and I could get into gory details. They're in my head but I have to look at the positives and say that we helped somebody on a really, really bad day and we helped that family."

Curilla describes the STARS crew he flies with as a family.

"We're like brothers and sisters," he says.  "We're just so tight as a team, we know what we're doing and together we know each other's responsibilities and roles on any given mission.  We're there to help each other and we don't limit ourselves to our own scope of defined job role, it's about being part of the team and helping out in any way we can."

One of the most rewarding aspects of his job, Curilla says, is when patients he has flown come back to visit them at STARS. He calls it a moment of closure.

"We love it.  We call them VIPs or Very Important Patients, they're patients we've flown.  Very often, we don't know what's happened to people after we drop them off at the hospital.  Did they make it, did they not?  Do they have deficits? Are they doing well? Is it all behind them? I believe it's not only good for us to see them and that they've done well, but also for them to come back and see us and the helicopter they flew in and to talk to the crew. I think that's a great part of STARS that I would like to see more of."