The history of Ornge began in 1977 when the Province of Ontario established a helicopter-based aero-medical program at Toronto’s Buttonville Airport associated with Sunnybrook Hospital. That same year, the Ministry of Health developed and implemented a training system for flight paramedics who perform advanced life support and controlled medical acts during air transport.
After more than two decades of service, the program grew to include a variety of aircraft at a number of bases and associated with a number of medical facilities across Ontario. In 2002, base hospitals in Sioux Lookout, Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Timmins and Toronto were amalgamated under the Ontario Air Ambulance Base Hospital Program.
On October 8, 2004, Ornge was incorporated under the name “Ontario Air Ambulance Services Co.” (“OAASC”) in the Canada Corporations Act.
In July 2005 the government of Ontario announced the appointment of OAASC to coordinate all aspects Ontario's air ambulance services and Dr. Christopher Mazza was appointed as the founding Chief Executive Officer.
The organization changed its name to Ornge in 2006. Ornge is not an acronym. Instead the unique name was adopted to reflect the well-recognized colour of Ornge’s distinctive vehicles.
In June 2007, the Province of Ontario proclaimed the Health Systems Improvement Act (“Bill 171”), which enabled the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care to designate Ornge for the purpose of providing or ensuring the provision of land ambulance services under regulation 497/07 of the Ambulance Act. In response to Bill 171, Ornge designed and created a highly integrated and controlled land and air inter-facility transport system and became one of the only Canadian transport medicine providers to earn accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems in all three modes of transport – helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and land ambulances.
On January 14, 2008, Ornge launched its first critical care inter-facility land transport program in Ottawa. Additional programs were added in Peterborough and Toronto in the summer of 2008. In addition, after months of specialized education and training, Ornge also launched a dedicated paediatric transport team in Ottawa in the summer of 2009. This team consists of highly educated and trained paramedics and nurses who will provide transports for some of the youngest and most vulnerable patients in Ontario.