ORNGE TO OPEN TRANSPORT MEDICINE CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE IN HAMILTON

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Oct. 19 /CNW/ - Ornge, the provider of transport medicine services for the province of Ontario, has announced the opening of a Transport Medicine Centre of Excellence in 2011 to serve the people of Southern Ontario.  The facility will be located at Hamilton International Airport.   Work will begin in the coming months to outfit an existing hangar at HIA for transport medicine.  Upon completion, Ornge will relocate its operations from its current base on Toronto Island to the new facility.

Since Ornge assumed responsibility for all aspects of the provincial transport medicine program in 2006, the organization has been actively seeking ways to modernize the service and make it more sustainable and efficient for generations to come.  It has become clear that the current location of its base at the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport no longer meets the needs of a program that sees increasing demands year after year.  The Ornge hangar in Toronto does not allow for expansion and enhancement of services.  After an extensive three year review, it was determined Hamilton International Airport is the best location for a base that will bring excellence of care to patients throughout Southern Ontario.

On October 15^th, 2010, Ornge officially gave notice to employees of the Ornge Toronto base of its intention to move operations to the Hamilton International Airport (HIA) in 2011. There will be no job losses associated with the move -- staffing levels will remain unchanged at the new base.

Ornge values its paramedics.  Employees have been given at least six months notice about the base relocation, though the exact move date has not yet been determined.  Ornge will honour the collective agreement and looks forward to working with its partners to ensure a smooth transition.  In the meantime, services will continue to operate from the current Toronto base.

The new facility will be the second Ornge Transport Medicine Centre of Excellence in Ontario.  The first, which opened earlier this month in Thunder Bay, is equipped to handle all three types of transport medicine provided by Ornge - rotor wing, fixed wing and critical care land units - as well as the Ornge Academy of Transport Medicine.

ABOUT ORNGE
Ornge is Canada's leading innovator in the emerging field of transport medicine.  The organization operates from a number of bases across the province of Ontario and performs approximately 20,000 admissions annually. It coordinates all aspects of Ontario's aero medical transport system, the new critical care land transport program, and the authorization of air and land ambulance transfers between hospitals. Ornge is dedicated to the provision of high quality patient care through innovative transport medicine.

For further information:

Gannon Loftus
Regional Media Relations Officer, Ornge
[phone]