While many of us have seen the red STARS helicopter fly overhead, we rarely get to learn where they were going or who they were helping.

Those who are curious are invited to listen in on the STARS: Mission Ready podcast, which is now in its second season.

Lyle Aspinall is one of two voices of STARS: Mission Ready. He and co-host Deborah Tetley tell the true stories of Western Canadian emergency responders and the calls that they attend.

Season one followed the riveting story of a woman who was attacked by a cougar, and season two focusses on a teen who became trapped under a lawnmower.

“It’s quite a remarkable thing. There were times during these interviews that my co-host Deborah Tetley and I were actually crying, because they are such deeply emotional, personal tellings of the story.”

Draidyn Wollmann’s story is shared in several half-hour episodes, available on all podcast platforms.

Aspinall, says the podcast started as a Covid project when the team was unable to engage in-person with the community.

“The podcast is an amazing way to hear that (story), because we don’t want to show something that graphic, but to hear somebody talk about it in such an intimate way and to ultimately hear the outcome of that patient is a remarkable thing, and I encourage everybody to listen.”

A new episode will be released every Wednesday, and the first two are already available.