STARS Lottery honours patient in naming of home

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on January 20, 2023.

Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman Leo Joseph Kolebaba stands with his mom Mandy DeCecco-Kolebaba after receiving the honour of having a STARS lottery home named after him as a STARS VIP (very important patient).

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

STARS Lottery celebrated the launch of their 30th lottery on Thursday with a home named ‘The Leo Joseph’ after a local boy who was able to survive thanks to their services.

The Leo Joseph house is located in the Crossings neighbourhood and it was named after Leo Joseph Kolebaba, a VIP (very important patient) of STARS who was transported to the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary on Feb. 14, 2015 when he was only 11 weeks old.

His mom Mandy DeCecco-Kolebaba said he developed pneumonia as a newborn and STARS ambulance saved his life by transporting him to Calgary.

“STARS ambulance took him to the Alberta Children’s Hospital where he was on life support for a week and they saved his life,” said DeCecco-Kolebaba.

She said that even though we have a great healthcare system it is very important to have highly specialized equipment and people trained to operate it and the ability to be transported quickly to other locations where patients can receive the care they need if necessary.

“Not every community has access to all of these other facilities, so without STARS Leo probably would not have survived,” said DeCecco-Kolebaba.

She said that not only were they were able to airlift him to Calgary, they had the ability to fit the necessary equipment to provide him with oxygen, as his face was so small and the equipment at the hospital was too big for his face.

As STARS chief financial officer Linda Dalgetty said, STARS can be person’s best chance in a worst-case scenario.

“Last year we flew 17,176 missions, 180 of those missions were to this part of the world and 74 of them were right here in Lethbridge County,” said Dalgetty.

She said that was possible in a big way thanks to their STARS Lottery fundraising, which is their largest fundraiser.

“We will raise enough money in the lottery to support one full Alberta base for an entire year and that allows us to provide that lifesaving critical care when you need it, where you need it,” said Dalgetty.

She said the partnership with Van Arbor Homes is invaluable.

“What they’re doing for our lottery, it’s just amazing,” said Dalgetty.

Co-owner of Van Arbor Homes, Val Lowen, said they have many reasons to support STARS Lottery, and one of them was the value that it adds to our community and to southern Alberta.

“We don’t live in an area where we have all kinds of critical care options medically, so we have to rely on somebody who can get us to areas that have bigger centres like Calgary and Edmonton that can care for people who are critically ill,” said Lowen.

When it comes to the naming of the house after Kolebaba she said naming STARS homes is a tradition that’s very important to her and her husband.

“Mike and I in 1991, we had the sadness of our oldest daughter needing medical help and at that time we lived on a farm and medical help wasn’t easily available for us, unfortunately we did not get the outcome that we had wanted and she died,” said Lowen.

She said that inspired them to take on the STARS project, and were able to name their first home the Jenna Michelle in memory of their daughter, but after that they decided to name their homes after patients that STARS were able to help.

DeCecco-Kolebaba said that having a house named after her son was the icing on the cake, after having her son’s life saved by STARS Ambulance.

“It is one more level of how we can help and promote STARS and make sure that people continue to support it as well. It is very important to keep STARS in the air,” said DeCecco-Kolebaba.

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