Northern lifesaver

Travis Given shudders to think what life in Northern Ontario would be like without a reliable transport medicine service.

A flight paramedic with ORNGE, Givens said it can mean the difference between life and death for patients in many far North communities, whose access to quality medical care would be severely hampered through isolation and the absence of doctors, equipment and supplies.

"It is the lifeline, especially for the First Nation communities that are air access only," Given said.

With a territorial range that spans from the Arctic Ocean to the north, Winnipeg to the west and Toronto and all points southern Ontario in the east, Given said one never knows what to expect when they land.

Unlike an office job, it’s different every day, he said.

"The call types vary from abdominal pain to newborn sick babies. We take people out of all the ICU’s, take them down to larger care centres and trauma centres. It’s quite like a mobilized ICU in the back of the aircraft."

On Wednesday alone the company delivered 62 patients to hospitals across the province, traveling 17,939 statute miles along the way.

But as recently as four years ago, things weren’t running nearly as smoothly in the medical transportation business in Ontario, which today moves 18,000 patients each year in Ontario.

A year after Ornge Air’s first flight out of Thunder Bay, Ornge’s chief operating officer, Rick Potter, said Thursday that when asked three years ago to restructure the service, he inherited a fleet of aging aircraft that required an overabundance of maintenance to keep flying.

It was affecting their efficiency as a medical transportation service, which does 80 per cent of its work in climate-challenged Northern Ontario, never a good thing when lives are on the line.

"Ornge had to embark on finding a better way to deliver service to the people," said Potter, the former dean of Confederation College’s Aviation Centre of Excellence, who spends three days a week in Toronto, the remainder of his time in Thunder Bay.

The first solution was to replace their permanent fleet with six $5-million Pilatus PC-12 airplanes, state of the art flying machines that can get in and out of tight spots with ease, as comfortable landing on a one-kilometre gravel runway as it is the monstrous landing strips airports in Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa afford.

The range of the new aircraft almost always allows them to fly in to a remote centre and back to urban Canada without having to refuel, an added bonus for communities without that capability and for patients whose trips are shortened by about an hour because of the new planes.

The difference is night and day, Potter said.

"Our business is providing patient care when we get there, as opposed to doing that patient care when we get to a hospital. These aircraft are probably better equipped than a lot of emergency rooms in smaller communities with the amount of equipment we carry, and the skill set of the paramedics we have on board that aircraft," Potter said.

"We’re able to start delivering quality medical care as soon as we’re on site, which has a tremendous effect on the patient income."

Chief pilot James Bennett, a Sioux Lookout native, said safety is of utmost concern, but the organization’s pilots try to look at each flight as just another day in the air – still knowing that in life-and-death situations, seconds count.

"We try not to let adrenaline get in the way of our thought process. It’s safety first," Bennett said.

The improvements have made a world of difference, he added, saying he witnessed the birth of air ambulances and can’t believe the difference in service.

"Yes we’re still flying airplanes, and yes we’re still moving individuals who are ill. However the technological service we offer is advanced care," Bennett said.

The company also employs 11 Sikorsky helicopters, which are more versatile than a fixed-wing plane and invaluable in rugged, less accessible terrain. They also have ground transportation services.




Ornge is in the midst of renovating a hangar on the north side of the Thunder Bay International Airport property that will serve as an amalgamated headquarters bringing all of their services together under one roof.

On Oct. 16 they will host an open house at the facility that is open to everyone.