a watershed year

a watershed year
ANNUAL
An event or period marking a turning point in a course of action or development
REPORT
2008-2009

2008
2009
2
ANNUAL REPORT
2008-2009
The Year in Nu 6 5
FY 07/08 FY 08/09
Number of Requests/Gaps in Service* 27,386 30,442
3
Patient Admissions (air and land) 19,268 20,394
Patients Flown 17,764 18,487
Emergent Patients 7,189 7,747
Urgent Patients 4,073 4,363
Non-urgent Patients 8,006 8,284
Organ Flights 425 541
Statute Miles Flown 6,576,581 6,725,780
Patient Transfer Authorization Centre Requests (PTAC) 385,016 389,608
Medical Transfer Numbers 384,102 388,539
*Requests/Gaps in Service includes both met and unmet requests
The number of patients transported by Ornge in 2008/09 (20,385) exceeds the capacity of the Air Canada Centre (19,800 seats)
Total Statute Miles (1 statute mile = 1.15 miles) flown – 6,725,780… or 7,734,647 nautical miles… the average distance from
the centre of the earth to the centre of the moon is 238,857 miles (477,714 round trip) – Ornge has flown the equivalent of more than
16 trips to the moon and back this year.
3

contents
4 Message from the President
and from the Chair
6 Ornge buys helicopters,
hangars and aviation assets
8 Transforming transport
medicine through the
Academy of Transport
Medicine
10 Stakeholder Relations
Doc in a Box
12 Ornge Leadership Academy
Research and Development
14 Critical Care Land
Ambulance Program
Ornge Communications
Centre
16 A New Relationship with
EMAT and Emergency
Management
17 Ornge Lays Foundation for
Paediatric Transport Team in
Ottawa
18 Ornge Foundation
19 J Smarts asks you to
“Think It Thru”
20 Ornge Pulse Awards
23 Board of Directors and
Senior Executive Team
ANNUAL REPORT
2008-2009

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT AND FROM THE CHAIR
2008-09 has been a
watershed year
in the evolution of Ornge’s operations.
We purchased NEW STATE-OF-THE-ART AIRCRAFT AND HIRED HIGHLY-SKILLED STAFF,
INCLUDING MANY IN POSITIONS NEW TO OUR ORGANIZATION. Our efforts to generate
capital, which began last fiscal year, are progressing well - both through the Ornge
Foundation and in our business development activities.
Each of these initiatives is a major undertak-
idea behind it all is a simple one: Sustain-
As President and CEO, and Chairman of the
turned this service around. It consolidated
ing in and of itself, let alone carrying them all
ability. Making sure we have the ability to
Board, we are both very proud to stand at the
a fragmented system into a single transport
out simultaneously, and continuing to offer
provide top-notch care for everyone in the
helm of an organization that is moving for-
medicine organization with a clear mis-
the highest levels of service in the growing
province who needs us, not just today, but for
ward on a bold new path with such skill
sion of providing Patient care with inno-
field of transport medicine.
generations to come. It’s a daunting task,
and dedication. Last year we congratulated
vative transport medicine. Ornge remains
but one well worth dedicating everything we
the Ornge team for completing a five-year
steadfastly committed to ensuring Ontarians
The execution has been, and will continue to
have in order to achieve.
strategic plan in an astounding two years.
have improved access to our service, when
be challenging and complex. However, the
That plan, with no exaggeration, has
and where we are needed most.
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ANNUAL REPORT
2008-2009

For that, the Ornge team deserves an even
larger thanks.
it demands that we continue to challenge ourselves
to find new and better ways of doing
things, because the old ‘air ambulance’ mod-
with no limits and no
boundaries.
here, not just for years or decades or even for
our lifetimes – but for those who will need us
for generations to come.
The unique and exciting thing about Ornge
is that we are at a new frontier of medicine,
one that simply did not exist before. We bring
to the table the ability to create the confidence
in those people we move that we are
not decreasing the standard of care they have
received within a bricks and mortar hospital,
but are maintaining or even increasing it. The
incredible peace of mind we can give to people
at the most vulnerable point in their lives
is a very modern concept. It also means better
healthcare for the citizens of Ontario. But
els simply did not work.
Indeed, just a few years ago, the very idea of
owning our own aircraft, hiring our own pilots,
and generating our own funds to re-invest
into Ornge were shocking to many. But
these new ideas will work. We have tested
them through exhaustive research and due
diligence. We have received external fairness
opinions, undertaken a comprehensive and
transparent procurement process, and analyzed
every option at our disposal,
All of these new initiatives and all of this rapid
change have confirmed that our new direction
is the right one. It will make Ornge better,
more efficient and more cost effective. It
will help us fulfill our commitment to making
safe, safer. It will give us better control over
our operations. Most importantly, it will enable
us to help even more of the people
who need us. This past year, we laid a rocksolid
foundation for Ornge’s sustainability
and the platform for its growth. By
doing so, we are ensuring that we will be
Dr. Chris Mazza
President and CEO
Rainer Beltzner
Chairman
ANNUAL REPORT
2008-2009
5

Ornge buys helicopters,
hangars and aviation assets:
Greater independence means higher efficiency and greater control.
In 2008/09, Ornge purchased its own aircraft – an important step in its
strategy to be more independent and more efficient.
First and foremost, Ornge’s decision to
purchase our own aircraft is to improve
and enhance transport medicine services
for Ontario patients and particularly for those
patients living in the North. This decision was
driven by the need to provide more capacity
to deliver increased transport medicine services
for patients and also for the need to update
the aging fleet of aircraft currently used.
In order to do that and to curb and control
the escalating costs associated with transport
medicine, Ornge moved toward a new business
model.
This includes buying 10 AgustaWestland
AW139 helicopters and owning and operating
six Pilatus PC-12 Next Generation airplanes.
The Ornge airplanes will be dedicated
ANNUAL REPORT
2008-2009

aircraft providing advanced and critical care
levels of medical care to patients.
Ornge took three major
initiatives this past year
to control costs and
enhance and expand
services.
The first took place in August 2008 when
Ornge announced the purchase of 10
state-of-the-art AgustaWestland
AW139 helicopters. Then in October,
we announced our second initiative with the
purchase of six new Pilatus PC-12 Next
Generation single-engine planes. These aircraft
are expected to commence services in
2009-10. These planes, which have a range
of over 2,900 km, have been used extensively
by the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia.
Both the Pilatus PC-12s and the Agusta
Westland AW139s will be specially outfitted
for Ornge with the most advanced medical
equipment, transforming them into ‘virtual
flying hospitals.’ The total cost for these
purchases was $165 million.
The third initiative in March 2009, saw Ornge
purchase from Canadian Helicopters Limited
(CHL) the current Ontario fleet of 11 medically-equpped
Sikorsky S-76 helicopters
as well as four hangars in Ottawa, Mooso -
nee, Kenora and London. CHL will continue
to provide flight operations and maintenance
services for the helicopters. The aggregate
purchase price was $30 million. This purchase
will enable us to control the transition to the
new helicopters and to ensure continual access
to transport medicine services during this
time.
What’s more, all of these new aircraft will not
only enable us to reach patients faster and
more often but will also provide us with
greater distance capabilities.
Capitalizing on our expertise
An important part of Ornge's
growth strategy is creating new
initiatives that will in turn create
new revenue streams. One of
these is consulting: offering the
organization's world-calibre
expertise in transport medicine
to other jurisdictions and
organizations. Ornge provides
these services through Ornge
PEEL which was established to
provide back office support to
the Ornge entities and
consulting services.
In February, 2009, Ornge
signed a consulting agreement
to produce a feasibility report
for the Government of
Saskatchewan to examine the
province’s current ambulance
system and assess the
implications of adding
helicopters to the provinces
air ambulance system.
The study will help ensure that
Saskatchewan’s entire EMS
sector is progressive, efficient
and fair for people in all parts
of that province.
ANNUAL REPORT
2008-2009

TRANSFORMING TRANSPORT MEDICINE THROUGH THE
Ornge Academy of
Transport Medicine
In 2007, Ornge established one of Canada’s first
centres for advanced training in transport medicine.
The Ornge Academy of Transport Medicine is also
the first training program in Canada with courses
certified by the Canadian Medical Association for
critical care paramedics.
The Academy is both a direct reflection
of Ornge’s mandate to transform
traditional ‘air ambulance’ services
into the completely different realm of
transport medicine, and a major player in accelerating
that transformation as quickly as
possible.
So it’s no surprise that in 2008-09, the Academy
expanded its programs significantly – a
difficult task in an increasingly specialized profession.
Here, paramedics are trained and educated
to become advanced care and critical
care flight paramedics, and a record number of
students successfully went through the Ornge
program this year. Ornge has also begun training
registered nurses to become members of
the Ornge Paediatric Transport Team. Established
to provide quality medical transport
services to critically ill and injured children, this
team completes intensive training in both paediatrics
and transport medicine.
The Academy offers four levels of programs.
Together, they employ a combination of classroom
sessions, videoconferences, seminars,
high fidelity patient simulators, on-line learning
and clinical placements in hospitals and
essential consolidation time on air and critical
care land ambulances.
• Aeromedical Program educates Primary
Care Paramedics to become Primary Care
Flight Paramedics.
• Advanced Care Flight Paramedic Program
educates Primary Care and Primary Care
Flight Paramedics to become Advanced
Care providers in the air or on land. This
level of instruction educates the medic
beyond the scope of practice on land,
and qualifies the student to write the
Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
ACP exam ination, which is a requirement
to work at the Advanced Care level.
ANNUAL REPORT
2008-2009

• Advanced Care Flight Paramedic Bridge
Program bridges the gaps between land
and air and educates Advanced Care
Land Paramedics to become Advanced
Care Flight Paramedics.
• Critical Care Paramedic Program educates
Advanced Care Paramedics in
broadening their skills in caring for critically
ill or injured patients in the air.
This past year, the Academy trained a record
number of 80 students, four times the number
trained in 2007-08.
This past year, the Academy trained a record
number of 80 students, four times the
number trained in 2007-08.
While this volume strained the Academy’s
ability to deliver these programs, it was able
to complete it through a reorganization of
the faculty working within the Academy. An
additional seven full time faculty were added
to the instructor roster in the Academy programs.
Also, to augment the consolidation
period, 30 paramedics were qualified as field
training officers. In addition, the Academy
boosted the number of simulation technicians/operators
by 400%. These steps dramatically
build the critical element of simulation
to all of our education programs. This
was in anticipation of the creation of a permanent
simulator located in Thunder Bay, and
with it, the ability to use active simulation in
more of the Academy’s programs.
The Academy also enhanced its
delivery of programs via the case
study method – proven to be
highly effective in traditional environments
such as business
schools, but also proving effective
in the new and very rapidly
evolving environment of transport
medicine.
Ornge partners with
Northern Ontario
School of Medicine
(NOSM).
In October 2008, Canada’s newest medical
school signed a five-year collaboration
agreement with Ornge. NOSM and Ornge
are collaborating on medical curriculum,
educational and training objectives and
capitalizing on opportunities to improve
access to distance education for NOSM
and Ornge students. The agreement will
also provide greater access for medical students
and health care professionals in
Northern Ontario to the latest simulation
technology.
This initiative not only demonstrates
Ornge’s philosophy that transport medicine
is a distinct medical discipline, but also
supports NOSM’s social accountability by
improving the health of the people of
Northern Ontario.
ANNUAL REPORT
2008-2009

Stakeholder Relations
Moving from reactive to proactive
Ornge’s mission encompasses patient care
with innovative transport medicine and
we appreciate that our services can be
improved by proactively engaging
our diverse stakeholders.
These stakeholders are a vital part of the
present and the future of our organization.
This past year saw a shift in Ornge’s
stakeholder relations, as we moved from a reactive
to a more proactive stance, and undertook
a major expansion of our activities. Stakeholders
were continuously and actively
encouraged to share their thoughts about our
performance and service delivery.
In late 2008, Ornge took the first step in developing
a more hands-on approach by conducting
benchmark research into where the
organization stood with our stakeholders.
ANNUAL REPORT
2008-2009

In 2007-08, Ornge implemented one of the most advanced and overdue
initiatives in the entire field of transport medicine. Instead of having doctors
on call via a pager or cell phone to provide direction to paramedics
– which is pretty much the standard of care worldwide – Ornge created a
pilot program called “Doc in a Box” that would see the transport medicine
physician located directly in the Ornge Communications Centre or in one
of the Ornge bases around the province. The doctor would manage the
“Doc in a Box” puts more doctors in more boxes
Transport medicine is complex at the easiest of times, so having a key player on the field with
the rest of the team, instead of calling in the plays from the sidelines, makes all the difference.
This year, Ornge’s “Doc in a Box” program was successfully
rolled out across the province. Now, an Ornge transport
medicine physician is physically working 16 hours a day in
either the Ornge Communications Centre or in one of the
Ornge bases across the province.
province’s transport medicine patient volume much the same as they would manage the various
patient needs in a busy emergency department. The pilot was an immediate success: it improves
the speed and quality of decision-making; enables doctors, hospitals and paramedics to
work more cohesively as a team; and lets physicians be more proactive – while being more informed
– on preparing a patient for transport.
Ornge now has 26 full-and part-time physicians, including 21 critical care emergency doctors as
well as five paediatric specialists, who all receive extensive additional training in transport medicine.
Ornge’s Chief of Medical Staff, Dr. Bruce Sawadsky who has been with Ornge and its
predecessors for 10 years, believes there are huge benefits in having a doctor physically in a
communications centre or base.
Ornge commissioned the independent research
firm, Ipsos Reid, to solicit the opinions
of our key stakeholder groups (Health
Care Professionals, Nursing Stations, Emergency
Medical Services, Central Ambulance
Communications Centres/Ambulance Communications
Services and Local Health Integration
Networks), regarding our services.
Many of the respondents provided encouraging
feedback along with positive comments,
including:
• Commitment to high quality patient care
• Reliable, collaborative, dedicated and
compassionate staff
• A wide variety of expertise
The results demonstrated generally high
approval levels for Ornge among
health care professionals, but low
awareness levels with other stakeholders
across the province. We are pleased with the
positive responses but also appreciate the insight
gained into the areas where we can better
develop. Ornge is currently implementing
a number of strategies and initiatives to address
these concerns.
Internally, this entailed examining new Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) software
that will facilitate the management of
our growing database and track all of our
stakeholder feedback; planning a second
benchmark survey; and developing a Stakeholder
Handbook to help build awareness.
Externally, we conducted more meetings with
stakeholders at both a corporate and community
level; took part in external committees;
and began researching quality metrics
that will lead to greater patient satisfaction
and service improvements in the future.
To be successful,
Ornge recognizes that
stakeholder relations must be
part of our overall strategic
plan as a means to help us
achieve our commitment of
providing quality care to the
residents of Ontario.
ANNUAL REPORT
2008-2009

The Ornge Leadership Academy:
Few organizations are as committed to
making leadership a core competence
– not just with its senior leadership
team, but with its managers and directors
and its next generation of leaders.
In fact, the Ornge Leadership Academy
was set up in 2007 as a key part of our Succession
Management process and a formal
way to cultivate a corporate culture that’s
driven by compassion, collaboration and innovation,
based on accountability and geared
toward helping employees explore their own
leadership potential. These are all critical attributes
in an organization such as Ornge
whose mission demands that virtually everyone
be a leader at some time during the course of
their work.
This year, Leadership Academy 2 Participants
completed a three week residential leadership
program over a 10 month period. Each of the
three weeks focused on one of the three key
themes of leadership at Ornge:
Leading Self,
Leading Others and
Leading within Ornge.
CONSTANTLY DRIVING
With the success of the first group, the program
was expanded in 2008-09 both in how
the participants were selected and the depth
of their training. Each week continues to follow
the premise of most business schools by
offering many different teaching methods
such as lectures, case studies, simulations and
small and large group discussion. Outside experts
are brought in. For example, Joe Sherren,
spoke in November 2008 during week 2
on Dynamic Coaching and his “Birds” communication
styles. Dr. Peter Menzies, Ph.D.
who completed his thesis on Aboriginal intergenerational
trauma spent a day with the
group in February 2009 during the third week
of the program. He provided a provocative
overview of the impact of historic social policies
on the experiences of Aboriginal Peoples
in Canada and what Ornge can do from a recruitment
and retention perspective.
12
ANNUAL REPORT
2008-2009

In addition to the residential component of
the Academy, each participant is assigned to
a coaching group led by a member of Ornge’s
Executive Team or a graduate of the Leadership
Academy program. This year each group
had an opportunity to work with three different
coaches and they rotated following the
completion of each week of residency. These
groups help put into practice what our employees
learn at the Leadership Academy,
help them ensure that what they're learning
is not just tried in the workplace but embedded
in it and also help employees reach their
own leadership goals.
While the Academy has drawn positive reviews
from its participants, no one claims it’s
easy. Everyone completes an emotional assessment
before the course, as well as a 360
degree feedback review based on Ornge’s
core and leadership competencies, as well as
a second 360 degree review when the program
ends 10 months later. Following this final
assessment, participants must write a final
paper reflecting back on where they started
and their journey throughout the program
taking into consideration what they said they
would stop doing, what they would start doing
and what they would continue to do and
how well they accomplished what they committed
to doing.
Ensuring a respectful workplace
Many organizations now have formal policies to protect their employees against gossip,
harassment, discrimination and bullying. An organization like Ornge, which puts
extraordinary stock in being values-driven, and which deals with people who have
different cultural assumptions, and often in situations of extraordinary stress, took that
awareness one step further in 2008/09. Over the course of the year, close to 200 Ornge
employees attended training sessions on creating a respectful workplace, as part of a
continuous program of awareness-building in order to improve efficiency, teamwork
and Ornge’s three key values of compassion, collaboration and innovation.
A growing role for Research and Development
In 2007-08, Ornge created a new department - Research and Development -
dedicated to discovering new or better ways to make transport medicine
safer, innovative, and more effective. This is one of the newest areas of medical
care and Ornge is playing a leadership role and establishing a global presence
in this field.
During the 2008-09 fiscal year, the Ornge R&D group grew substantially. The
group has 17 projects underway in areas relevant to transport medicine, including
adverse events and errors, simulation-based education methods, stress and
performance, patient safety, resource allocation and optimization, occupational
safety, critical events, and trauma and injury prevention. Ornge is becoming a
leader in many of these areas, particularily safety, adverse events and errors.
R&D members have built collaborations with several external agencies, including
Cornell University, University of Toronto, University of Western Ontario, and
the University Health Network. The group has also received three peer-reviewed
grants totalling $34,500 (US), published 7 papers and 8 abstracts, and
presented at 24 national and international conferences. The paper with the
greatest impact was "Epidemiology of Adverse Events in Air Medical Transport"
by Dr. Russell MacDonald (Medical Director) published in the October
2008 issue of Academic Emergency Medicine. The paper details the types and
causes of adverse events, identifying what factors may be modifiable in order
to direct future efforts at improving safety.
As Ornge R&D grows and establishes its track record, its impact will continue
to grow both within Ornge and in the field of transport medicine as a whole.
ANNUAL REPORT
2008-2009
13

The Critical Care Land Ambulance
Transport Program
From need to action ON THE GROUND
Acritical part of Ornge’s service involves integrating
the transfer of critically ill or injured
patients between hospitals — on land
and in the air. In June, 2007, Ornge was designated
by the Ontario Government to create
a fully integrated land and air ambulance
system across the province.
From its first days, Ornge was in much more than the air ambulance business; it is in
the transport medicine business.
Ornge Critical Care
Flight Paramedics
Take on the World
In May 2008, Ornge paramedics not only
took part in the World Congress of Aeromedical
Services in Prague, but shared top
honours when they tied with a team from
Michigan to win first place at the competition.
The two-day competition saw
Wayde Diamond and Jonathan Lee advance
through a series of competitions
open to critical care paramedics, nurses
and doctors from around the world.
It’s important to understand what critical care
land transport isn’t. It isn’t an ambulance responding
to a 911 emergency call and speeding
a critically ill patient to a hospital emergency
room. It’s an inter-facility transfer
system for critically ill or injured patients from
one hospital to another. Until 2007/08, Ornge
had no land ambulances, and more than
80% of the aircraft calls involved inter-facility
transfer. This year past, Ornge established inter-facility
land bases in Peterborough and
Toronto (Markham) in addition to the land
base established in Ottawa in 2008.
But how important is it to
integrate land and air transport
of critically ill patients? Very.
For three reasons: one, it relieves pressure on
existing municipal land ambulance services
and allows them to focus on 911 emergency
calls; two, it reduces the need for hospitals to
provide escort staff such as nurses and doctors
for critical care patient transfers; and
three, it enables Ornge to free up its aircraft
availability for outlying rural and remote areas
where land ambulances would need to make
the long trip by road.
ANNUAL REPORT
2008-2009

A new regional focus
to the Ornge Communications Centre
13 DEDICATED BASES
• Kenora (rotor)
• London (rotor)
• Moosonee (rotor)
• Ottawa (rotor & land)
• Peterborough (land)
• Sioux Lookout (fixed)
• Sudbury (rotor)
• Thunder Bay (rotor & fixed)
• Timmins (fixed)
• Toronto (rotor & land)
The Ornge Communications Centre is the
situation room for virtually all of Ornge’s
front-line activities. Forty-eight full-time
staff work there and their job is to take requests,
determine the suitability for one of
Ornge’s aircraft or land ambulances to transfer
a patient, enable the transport medicine physician
(the “Doc in a Box”) to manage the medical
aspects of the transfer, and coordinate the
entire transport with the pilots, paramedics,
hospitals and other stakeholders such as land
ambulances and police.
This meant that rather
than having to oversee
an entire province that’s
twice the size of Texas, a
Communication Officer’s
responsibilities now
break down regionally.
It is a large and unforgiving task, and in
2008/09, Ornge initiated two programs to ensure
that it is done with the greatest efficiency
and the least amount of error.
The first program, called “TRx”, reconfigured
the perspective in the Ornge Communications
Centre (OCC) to make it easier for the Communication
Officers to control the situational
environment around them.
This way, the Communication Officers working
on the north-west quadrant of the province
have a much better situational awareness of
every factor that plays a role in decision-making
in that sector.
The second program began in September
2008 and saw all OCC staff participate in a
continuous education training program to improve
their communications and planning
skills. There are few environments where correct
understanding among many different
stakeholders can make the difference between
life and death. So it’s crucial that OCC staff not
only be trained to understand medical terminology
and ‘flight following’ information, but
larger issues such as weather patterns, geography
and the ability to multi-task efficiently.
These programs, offered at three levels of complexity,
involved classroom training, case studies
and active scenarios, as well as shadowing
shifts where a Communication Officer follows
a colleague’s situation and actions in real time
and real situations.
This constant emphasis on training – no matter
how expert and proven an Ornge employee
has become – is a hallmark of the organization
and one that makes many of its operations either
among the highest ranked in North American
transport medicine or the only ones
offered at such a level.
ANNUAL REPORT
2008-2009
15

“WE HAVE SO MUCH TO
BE PROUD OF as the pioneers who
built the first service of this kind in
Canada. Our two missions, both in
Sudbury, are a testament to EMAT’s value.
In one case we assisted the residents of
Kashechewan who were moved to
Sudbury following extensive flooding in
their community. In the second we
provided critical services following a fire at
St. Joseph’s Hospital which caused the
closure of its emergency department. In
addition to these deployments, EMAT has
also participated in three major exercises -
one each in Niagara Falls, Toronto and
most recently in Thunder Bay in the fall.”
A new relationship with EMAT
and emergency management
EMAT is pioneered by Ornge and grows beyond
Dr. Chris Mazza
President and CEO, Ornge
“WE WANT TO EMPHASIZE
THAT the EMAT is a program that
could not exist without you, the
volunteers. Your contribution of time and
dedication, skills, energy and hard work
have made the team an example to the
rest of the country and on behalf of the
people of Ontario we want to offer our
thanks for your invaluable role in keeping
Ontario healthy, safe, and prepared for
emergencies.”
Allison Stuart, ADM,
Public Health Division
16
ANNUAL REPORT
2008-2009
Since 2004, Ornge has been operating Ontario’s Emergency Medical
Assistance Team for the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.
EMAT was pioneered by Ornge as the first service of its kind in Canada.
At the end of the 2008-09 fiscal year responsibility
for EMAT moved to Sunnnybrook Health
Sciences Centre in Toronto. The transfer was
strategic: Ornge did not want to be put in a position
where its attention shifts away from
transport medicine services to EMAT, a growing
reality during exercises and responses to
emergencies. Also, Sunnybrook shares Ornge’s
vision for EMAT and has a stellar reputation for
tertiary care.
While the relationship between Ornge and
EMAT has changed, Ornge will utilize its Emergency
Operations Centre (EOC) if requested by
the Emergency Management Unit of the Ministry
of Health and Long-Term Care to support
an EMAT deployment.
EMAT was created to answer the need for a
mobile hospital that could reach any part of the
province within 24 hours. In the wake of the

SARS epidemic in 2003, that need became
urgent. Since then EMAT carried out two
major missions. The first was in 2005 when
we helped the people of Kashechewan
who were moved to Sudbury following
extensive flooding in their community. In
the second, EMAT provided critical services
following a fire at St. Joseph’s Hospital
in Sudbury that closed its emergency department.
EMAT also took part in three
major emergency preparedness exercises –
one each in Niagara Falls, Toronto, and in
November 2008 in Thunder Bay.
The Thunder Bay exercise – Trillium Response
2008 tested the province’s emergency
preparedness system to respond to a
full-scale emergency from a simulated
large-scale ice storm in Northwestern Ontario.
Some 1,500 participants were involved
from the provincial and federal
governments, 25 municipalities and three
First Nations communities, as well as the
Province of Manitoba, non-governmental
organizations, the private sector, plus 1,000
members of the Canadian Forces.
EMAT, with its self-sufficient 56-bed acute
and intermediate care mobile field hospital,
was deployed to Thunder Bay to complement
local medical facilities in the area.
Ornge Lays Foundation for
Paediatric Transport Team in Ottawa
As part of our ongoing commitment to enhancing and improving
transport medicine services in Ontario, Ornge looked at launching a
paediatric transport team in Ottawa to care for some of the youngest patients
in the region who require critical care transport.
But finding and training those teams is a different
matter. First, the clinicians must be trained
in paediatric transport medicine. For the past
two years, Ornge has worked closely with the
Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care,
as well as with other licensing bodies to create
standards and training for Paediatric Transport
Paramedics. This training can take up to half a
year in order to complete. But even more challenging
than the training and the job is the ability
to work seamlessly together. Ornge places
huge emphasis on teamwork, whether in a helicopter,
airplane, land ambulance or at the
Ornge Communications Centre.
So during 2008/09, the Ornge Academy of
Medicine took the lead in training seven clinicians,
with a background in either paramedicine
or nursing, who will form the Paediatric
Transport Team in Ottawa.
ANNUAL REPORT
2008-2009
17

Foundation
In 2007 the Ornge Foundation was created to raise awareness
and inspire Ontarians, their companies and service clubs to invest
in Ornge and our vision for transport medicine in the province.
ANNUAL REPORT
2008-2009
The Foundation is a charity and the
funds raised will enable Ornge to
purchase new medical equipment
for the aircraft. These funds will also
be used for improved patient care, technological
innovation, and research and development.
In February, the Ornge Foundation was very
pleased to receive a generous gift of $25,725
from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario
to launch the equipment campaign. This
gift will support the purchase of a patient
monitor/defibrillator for one of the Toronto
based helicopters. It’s one of the most critical
pieces of equipment in aero-medical transport,
and used for almost every patient transported
by Ornge. The patient monitor/defibrillator
is a crucial device for monitoring vital
body functions including pulse, blood pressure
and exhaled carbon dioxide, and can
also be used to shock (defibrillate) the heart
when required.
The Foundation also focused on setting up
and staffing, and planning for future fundraising
initiatives. These include the launch of
an annual campaign that will include events
around the province and a partnership with
Orange County Choppers, makers of custom
motorcycles and stars of the reality TV show,
“American Chopper.”
The campaign goal for
Ornge’s first full year of
fund-raising is $250,000.
Despite the slowdown in Ontario’s economy,
prospects look very bright for the Foundation,
for a reason that speaks to the incredibly
strong culture that Ornge has created in three
very short years. Said Foundation Chief Operating
Officer, Debbie McGarry: “Our first
funds didn’t come from a formal campaign to
people outside of Ornge, but from the people
of Ornge themselves. Our employees contributed
generously, both in terms of the
amount given and the proportion of staff
who gave.”

J Smarts asks youth to
Think It Thru
JSmarts is a program created by Ornge
and supported by the Ornge Foundation
to reduce the number and severity of preventable
accidents among Ontario youth.
J Smarts is based on a unique idea that unyielding
disapproval won’t alter a child’s or
youth’s behaviour. Instead, it asks young Ontarians
to consider four simple questions to get
them thinking about the impact of taking risks:
Should I? Could I?
Would I? What If?
In 2008/09, J Smarts launched a number of
programs and partnerships, as the first initiatives
in a five year strategic plan.
These included two pilot programs to test the
J Smarts curricula, one with Michael Power/St.
Joseph’s High School in Toronto; a second with
Muskoka Woods Camp on Lake Rousseau,
which saw J Smarts programming embedded
in seven of the camp’s summer sports programs.
In the summer of 2008, almost 1,400
youth participated in the J Smarts program at
Muskoka Woods. As well, a number of strategic
alliances were initiated during this period including
CJ Skateboard Park in Toronto, the
largest indoor skateboard park in Canada.
Also, in March 2009, Ornge’s Moosonee Base
welcomed 40 First Nations high school students
to a three-day Allied Health Professionals
youth conference hosted by Ornge, J Smarts
and the North Eastern Ontario School Authorities.
Dr. Chris Denny is a transport
medicine physician and researcher
for Ornge based
out of Toronto. But he could also
be in the next crop of Canadian astronauts.
When the Canadian Space
Agency put out its call for astronaut
applicants in early 2008, more
than 5,000 people applied. As of
March, 2009, the field has been narrowed
down to 16 hopefuls vying to
represent Canada in space. This job
opportunity doesn’t come by often.
The last time the CSA ran a recruitment
campaign was in 1992.
It won’t be a surprise to hear that
most of the hopefuls share Dr.
Denny’s childhood dream of having
the right stuff. He “trained” as a
child one day on the model Apollo
module then at the Ontario Science
Centre in Toronto.
ANNUAL REPORT
2008-2009
Making the short-list to be a Canadian astronaut

Year Two of the Ornge Pulse Awards
This peer-to-peer employee
awards program not only
reinforces Ornge’s values, but
highlights our uniqueness as
a workplace. Indeed, the Pulse
Awards celebrate our drive
for both innovation and
accountability in treating
patients and their families
with compassion.
Three of the four Pulse Awards are given
to someone who exemplifies each of
Ornge’s three founding values of Compassion,
Collaboration and Innovation.
The fourth, the Mike Roach Award, honours
an S76 helicopter captain who passed away
in 2000.
In addition, this year past, a special Resilience
Award was given when, in the early months of
2008, Ornge came face-to-face with adversity.
The Pulse Awards were given at a dinner in
Toronto in November, 2008 and the event
was attended by over 100 employees and
their families who came to celebrate the contributions
of their peers.
Presented to the Sudbury crew consisting of Greg Harper (Captain),
Michael Bain (First Officer) and Robert Bird (Critical Care Flight
Paramedic). Dennis Quenneville (Critical Care Flight Paramedic) not
shown in picture.
On a frigid February evening in 2008, one of our Sikorsky helicopters crashed on
Snake Island near Temagami while responding to transport a critically injured patient.
The entire Ornge system pulled together that night, and before daybreak, all
four injured crew members were in hospitals receiving the care they needed. The
Resilience Award was given to these four Ornge crew members, not for surviving
a crash, but for their demonstrated strength of spirit, courage and determination,
and a passion for the important work we do for patients. Resilience is defined as
“the ability to recover quickly from setbacks,” and these four men epitomized that
quality.
20
ANNUAL REPORT
2008-2009

The Spirit of Compassion
Award was presented to
Ingrid de Vries.
As the Program Manager of the
Ornge Academy of Transport Medicine,
Ingrid consistently ensured a
highly positive personal experience
for each of the students who were
enrolled in the Academy’s programs
this past year. She led the way in developing
strong relationships with
clinical and land preceptor sites where
these relationships simply didn’t exist
in the past. She repeatedly demonstrated
her cultural sensitivity by
encouraging students to exhibit compassion
not only with patients, but
with each other as well. This is especially
important in clinical sites and
communities where the culture is
new and unfamiliar. What’s more,
Ingrid always acknowledged the contribution
of each member of the team
– teachers and students – in helping
the Academy and Ornge to achieve
their goals.
The Strength of Collaboration Award was presented to Paolo Manlapaz,
John Ricciuti, Yehia El Mongy. Steve Robinson and Mark Than also received
the award but were not in attendance.
The team spent countless hours solving a number of IT challenges, especially in implementing
new programs like VoIP, OPTIMAS, voice recording and the entire computer
network. Not a day goes by without someone praising the dedication and
compassion of one of the members of this IT team. There’s good reason. They maintained
their cohesiveness in many highly stressful situations, with every member
being committed to the success of each other. They also not only kept their sense
of humour; they made it contagious, accepting that if something can go wrong, it
most definitely will!
ANNUAL REPORT
2008-2009
21

The Ornge Pulse Awards – Year Two
Presented to Christina Howell
Christina demonstrated incredible resourcefulness
in overcoming the seemingly
insurmountable challenges posed
by the new Critical Care Land Transport
Program. She began by developing a matrix
to determine which medics wanted
to participate in the program. Then she
developed the strategy that matched talent
to need to availability across Ornge
and across the province as well. Ultimately,
Christina’s map was the cornerstone
to facilitate recruitment and determine
the number and location of training
programs needed to staff our bases.
Presented to Frank St. Jean
On the night of that helicopter crash last
February, Ornge Regional Operations
Manager Frank St. Jean climbed aboard a
helicopter he wasn’t familiar with to
complete the call originally intended for
the now injured crew. He got the patient
to hospital and then stayed on duty all
through the night to arrange for travel
for the crew members’ families.
Governor General's EMS Exemplary Service Medal: John Wismer,
Mike Steinman, Percy Pilatzke and Rob Marshall. Todd Ritchie also
received the medal but was not in attendance.
Canada’s Exemplary Service Medals recognize the men and women dedicated to
preserving Canada’s public safety through long and outstanding service. Presented
by Jim Price Chair, National Advisory Committee, EMS Exemplary Service Medal,
this award recognizes professionals in the provision of pre-hospital emergency medical
services to the public who have performed their duties in an exemplary manner,
characterized by good conduct, industry and efficiency.
Nominations are submitted by a superior, and candidates must have completed 20
years of exemplary service, including at least 10 years in the performance of duties
involving potential risk.
22
ANNUAL REPORT
2008-2009

Board of Directors
Executive Management
Rainer Beltzner, FCA, FCMC, ICD.D
Chair, Board of Directors
Chair, Operations Committee
Dr. Christopher Mazza, MD, FRCPC, MBA
Barry Pickford, FCA
Chair, Finance and Audit Committee
Dr. Robert Lester, MD, FRCPC
Lorne Crawford, B.Sc.F.
Bethann Colle, B. Comm.
Donald Lowe, B.A.Sc., M.A. Sc.
Dr. Christopher Mazza, MD, FRCPC, MBA
President & Chief Executive Officer
Tom Lepine
Chief Operating Officer
Maria Renzella, CA
Executive Vice President, Corporate Services
Steve Farquhar
Vice President, Operations
Jo-Anne Oake-Vecchiato
Vice President, Clinical Affairs
Rick Potter
Vice President, Aviation
Luis Navas, HBA, MBA
Chair, Governance and Compensation
Committee
Rhoda Beecher
Vice President, Human Resources and
Organizational Development
Catherine Rosebrugh
Vice-President, Regulatory Affairs
Debbie McGarry, CFRE
Chief Operating Officer,
Ornge Foundation
ANNUAL REPORT
2008-2009

Ornge
20 Carlson Court, Suite 400
Toronto, Ontario M9W 7K6
Tel: 1 800 251 6543 or 1 647 428 2005
Fax: 1 647 428 2006
www.ornge.ca
Compassion Collaboration Innovation
Design: Artful Dodger Communications Inc.