Patients that are appropriate for our medical transport services are those requiring the ongoing administration of medications and/or blood products during transport that is above and beyond the scope of practice of a Primary Care Paramedic. Additionally, patients requiring the use of specialized equipment or monitoring devices during transport are also candidates for our services. Examples include, but are not limited to a ventilator, external pacemaker, multi-channel infusion pump, hemodynamic or invasive monitoring and IABP
For non-urgent or primary care transfers, the patient must meet the requirements of the Ambulance Act and the transfer involves one way travel of a distance greater than 240 km (for air).
There may be circumstances where a request for service does not meet the above guidelines. Ornge will assist health care professionals in determining the right level of care with the right type of vehicle.
Ornge provides three main medical transport services: (a) inter-facility patient transfers; (b) on-scene emergency response requiring aero-medical evacuation; and (c) transport of organs for transplant and the transport of surgical recovery teams to hospitals and transplant centres.
Interfacility Patient Transfers
The majority of transports are carried out between health care facilities. These patients typically require a service or higher level of care not available at the sending hospital. Historically, many hospitals throughout Ontario provided primary, secondary and tertiary care in a broad range of medical disciplines. In an effort to provide higher quality and more cost efficient medical care to patients, the healthcare system in Ontario reorganized around the concept of Centres of Excellence. The designation of certain hospitals in a given geographic area as responsible for specific medical disciplines such as cardiac care, neurosciences, cancer care, transplants, obstetrics, and paediatrics necessitates more frequent patient transfers from one health care facility to another and a service that can carry out these transfers safely.
On Scene Response
Ornge helicopters also respond directly to the scene of an accident. The goal of such responses is to provide a high level of skill to a patient with multiple injuries at the accident scene, and quickly transport patients with identified multisystem trauma to one of the provincial trauma centres. Minimizing the time from injury to definitive care decreases mortality and morbidity.
Ornge is not accessible to the public through the 911 system. However, the Ornge Communications Centre (OCC) works closely with land ambulance dispatch centres to coordinate and dispatch an Ornge helicopter directly to the accident scene. The coordination of land ambulance dispatch centres, the OCC, and the Provincial Trauma Centers provides timely and efficient care to trauma victims in Ontario.
Organ Transplant
Ornge is the primary provider of organ transport services by air for Ontario-based organ transplant patients and organ donation surgical recovery teams. Ornge is responsible for the rapid transport of recovered organs and the medical teams to transplant centres throughout Ontario.