The Ornge Communications Centre (OCC) is the nerve-centre of our province-wide operations - an essential component of the Ornge success story. From a central location, the OCC coordinates the transport of more than 18,000 patients each year, a fleet of helicopters, fixed wing aircraft, critical care land ambulances and crews stationed at bases across the province.
The OCC is staffed with Communications Officers with access to transport medicine physicians (available either on-site or remotely) to ensure that each medical transport request is assigned the proper medical personnel and equipment. This allows Ornge to provide patients with the best possible care in the most efficient manner.. Once the OCC has acquired the appropriate patient information, staff makes decisions about the right vehicle for transport, right medical crew with the appropriate level of expertise and the right time to move the patient.
Ornge is not publicly accessible via 911. However, an Ornge helicopter will respond to an accident scene or remote areas when requested by the local land ambulance, Central Ambulance Communications Centres (CACC) / Ambulance Communications Services (ACS).
The OCC also serves the role as the Provincial Transfer Authorization Centre (“PTAC”). PTAC helps with infectious disease control by screening patient transfers between healthcare facilities in Ontario. This risk was identified during the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003 when it was concluded that the transfer of patients between hospitals contributed to the spread of communicable respiratory diseases. PTAC was created to identify high risk patients, determine the need for personal protective equipment for medical transport staff, receiving hospital staff and family members, and reduce the spread of communicable respiratory diseases. PTAC has become an integral component of Ontario’s infectious disease control strategy. As a result, Ornge is responsible for issuing PTAC numbers for all transfers between medical facilities in Ontario. Each year PTAC issues almost 400,000 patient transfer numbers prior to transport.
Doc in a Box
Ornge is committed to patient care through innovative transport medicine. As part of this commitment, on May 1st, 2008 Ornge launched a program called “Doc in a Box”. This program places the on call Transport Medicine Physician either directly within the Ornge Communication Centre (OCC) or in their local Ornge base with connection to the OCC via intranet, phone and webcam.
Prior to this initiative the Transport Medicine Physician “on call” worked remotely utilizing pagers and cell phones to provide medical direction to Ornge paramedics and transport nurses. As the need for transport medicine services increases so do the demands for instant decision making on the part of the Transport Medicine Physician. Placing the physician directly in the OCC or their local base enables Ornge to enhance the level of care and service provided to our patients and other stakeholders.
Benefits to “Doc in a Box”
• Offers immediate access to Transport Medicine Physician triage on all calls, which increases time efficiency in the triage of emergent requests, and enhances the accuracy of that process
• Better engages health care facilities and advances the ability of Ornge to provide medical support to sending facilities
• Enhances the Transport Medicine Physicians awareness of all Ornge resources when they make decisions on the redirection of aircraft based on patient need
Click here for the Transport Medicine Utilization Guidelines
Click here for the Preparing a Patient for Medical Transport Guide
Click here to Request an MT Number.